


Finches and Fate

by livingarandomreality



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-04-25 23:23:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4980679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livingarandomreality/pseuds/livingarandomreality
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Cosima refuses to write off Delphine's fate and continues to dig for answers she'll discover more than she ever expected to find.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Questions and Calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this is my first story ever. I'm not much of a writer and I'd look to use the excuse that I'm science oriented and not very artistic but I've seen plenty of fanfic authors that aren't in writing fields of work and still ridiculously talented. So it just comes down to me not being very good at writing. Hopefully I'll get better as I go. I'm sure I'll go back and edit my earlier chapters later on but I've got some Cophine stories that have been dogging me so I'm posting them now. Just imagine these plot bunnies in the hands of others far more talented than me and imagine the potential!

Cosima was spread out along the couch when she heard Felix call from the kitchen, “Just got a text from Sarah. They landed in Iceland.” Sarah, Mrs. Sadler, and Malone had left almost immediately after the dinner had wrapped up; eager to see Kira and get their original far away. 

“Good, good. She must be super excited to Kira again.” Cosima answered somewhat absentmindedly. She had been in a weird mood all morning. She couldn’t put her finger on it though. Ever since she had seen Delphine she had the oddest feelings. A sense of trepidation, that something wasn’t right, but that kiss. I mean wow. She’d swear her lips were still tingling from that. 

Suddenly her clone club cell started ringing. Immediately sitting up she reached across the table and saw three letters across the screen. “Hey Art. What’s up?”

_“You tell me. Are all of you ok?”_

“Uhh…” Cosima looked around and Felix walked closer to the couch watching closely, “Yeah, yeah we’re all fine. As far as I know. We just heard from Sarah and I haven’t heard any bad news from Alison. Why?”

_“We just got a call that there’s been a shooting at DYAD. I know that name’s come up more than a few times with this stuff.”_

“Wait what? A shooting?” At this Felix’s eyes widened and he sat down beside her and motioned for her to put the call on speaker phone. When she had done it Felix spoke up, “What do you know so far?”

Art sighed, _“Nothing yet. I don’t have the lead on the case but considering this is a billion dollar corporation the whole precinct is helping out on this one. Call me if you get any information.”_

“Same goes for you Art.” With that the call ended.

The two occupants of the apartment turned shocked faces to each other. “I’ll call Alison,” Felix finally broke the silence and picked up Cosima’s phone to make the call. Holding the phone to his ear he was silent for a minute before he let out a relieved sigh, “Hello my little political powerhouse. I was calling to see how your first day in office was going.”

Cosima collapsed against the couch in relief. They were all alright and there was no need to worry Alison with this. After a short conversation Felix hung up the phone and turned to the dreadlocked clone next to him. Slouching down on the couch and reclining next to her, feet on the table, he said, “So it’s none of us. Probably just those crazy Neos that had been infesting the place. It can only be good for us.”

Cosima nodded and picked up a bag of Hawaiian Luau BBQ potato chips, took a handful, before offering some to Felix. The pair continued to enjoy the morning and relax after the hectic few weeks they’d endured.

****

Hours had passed before a familiar ringtone had both dozing occupants reaching for the cell. Long arms gave Felix the advantage and he answered the phone. Putting it on speaker and placing it back on the table so both could hear.

“So Arthur. I assume there’s news and you’re not just calling to offer your modeling services for my paintings?”

 _“Yeah there’s news,”_ Arthur’s tone sounded pretty hurried. Cosima felt it safe to assume he’d snuck away to make this call. _“Everyone in the office is calling this a homicide. We don’t have a body but the amount of blood at the crime scene points to us looking for a dead body.”_

“Whoa. Do you guys have like any idea what happened? Who it was?” Cosima rattled off the questions.

_“We’re not sure what went down. But we’ve got an ID. Probably the victim’s. It’s a woman, a Delphine Cormier.”_

Immediately after the first name sounded through the speaker Cosima’s hearing started to become fuzzy. She could barely make out the name Cormier from the buzz, not that she needed to. Delphine wasn’t a very common name, she’d only known one person with that one, and there was only one person that worked at DYAD with it.

“Holy shite!” was the reply Felix had for the news.

“No. No, no ,no. It’s not…She just dropped her ID or something. There’s no way…”

_“The evidence is telling another story. A purse was found at the crime scene. Right next to the blood.”_

At the mention of blood Cosima blanched and was looking close to passing out. Felix placed a hand on her shoulder blade and seemed to be trying to think of questions to ask, “Her purse. Was there anything else in her purse?”

_“I don’t know yet. So far all we checked was the ID. I’m set to go through the evidence later today.”_

“Thank god you got that job,” Felix leaned forward towards the phone, “Art if you find anything out of the ordinary you need to cover it up. Bring it to us instead. She was way too involved in all of this.”

 _“You want me to sneak evidence out of the station?”_ The irritation in Art’s voice was obvious.

“Yes I do. You know just how dangerous this shit is. We need to know everything we can.”

 _“I’ll let you know,”_ Was all Art said in return before hanging up.

Felix turned to Cosima to see her hands clasped over her mouth and tears streaming down her face. His hand rubbed her shoulder, “There’s a chance it wasn’t her. It’s not like DYAD’s never thrown false trails our way before.” A nod was the only response he got. Felix sighed, “I’m gonna call Sarah.”

Getting up Felix made his way to the kitchen, picking his phone up from the bar, he moved to the far corner and spoke in hushed tones. “They were out but as soon as they get to Cal’s place she’s gonna skype us.” Again Cosima nodded but she didn’t seem to be paying attention, instead pacing the floor by the couch repeatedly dialing Delphine’s number only becoming more frantic each time there was no answer.

****

Things still hadn’t settled in the loft when the sound of an incoming Skype call from Sarah came in. Felix was sure he’d never been more relieved to see her face. He was glad to have someone else involved in this. Cosima was worrying him. The possibility that the victim wasn’t Delphine seemed to be the only thing holding her together.

“Any news?” Sarah jumped to the chase.

Sarah and Felix talked for a few minutes when the now dreaded ringtone of the clone cell sounded through the room. Cosima jumped to answer it. Sarah and Felix listened in as Art’s voice came through the speaker.

“What’s going on Art?” Sarah questioned first.

_“We’re gonna need to meet up. I went through the bag and there was some weird worm or maggot being kept in a vial in there.”_

“That’s disgusting,” the revulsion in Felix’s voice clear as day.

_“Yeah. I figured you guys might know something about that?”_

“No. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered worms with DYAD. Cos?” Cosima looked up at Sarah on the screen. “Uh nope. Me either. But I can check it out.”

The sound of a machine beeping and then paper being moved around could be heard over the phone. Art’s voice sounds further from the phone than before, _“What the hell? Damn it!”_ Suddenly Art’s voice is closer again _“You guys better tell me if you know more about this than you mentioned before.”_

“What? Art we don’t know anything. What’s going on?” Sarah quickly responded.

Art could be heard taking a deep breath, _“When we were first called to the crime scene a gun was found under one of the cars. The lab ran it for prints and the results just came in.”_

Everyone held their breath and leaned in; even Sarah drew closer to her own laptop screen. Sarah finally broke the seemingly endless pause that was actually only seconds, “Was there a match? Who was it?”

Art hesitated for a moment before speaking again, _“Felix Dawkins.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd you think? Good? Bad? Any major problems, writing or otherwise, that stick out to you?  
> I know Cosima not being worried about Delphine when she first hears about the shooting might seem weird but she spent this ENTIRE season running away from DYAD and interactions with Delphine. She didn't answer a single phone call from her and only called her once to tell her that she was wrong about Shay. So even if it crossed her mind to call Delphine and see if she knew anything (she's in too much denial to even consider that it was actually Delphine to be hurt) there's part of her that was still reluctant to contact her. Especially for DYAD business.


	2. Change of Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter. It's pretty short but I hope you enjoy!

“What the fuck?! I didn’t kill anybody!” Felix shouts after the second of shocked silence that followed Art’s words. 

Sarah’s voice is quick to join in, “Oi Fee calm down. We know you didn’t do anything, yeah?” Her voice seems to calm him, if only slightly, and turns to the computer, arms wrapping around himself. Cosima who had been staring wide-eyed at Felix the entire time, shook her head and added to the conversation, “Okay so how did this happen. Do you even have a gun Felix?”

“No! I haven’t even touched a gun since…Oh shite. Fucking big dick Paul.”

“What are you going on about Fee?! What does Paul have to do with anything?”

“The last time I held a gun was when he forced his way in here and made me hold a gun to get my prints.”

The sigh Sarah released harsh and aggravated, “Fucking Paul.”

“Yeah but why am I being framed now? What even happened to it after that?”

“Paul was working for DYAD when he did it.”

Here Cosima joins in, her hands moving around her head as she thinks out loud “Well if Paul got the blackmail for DYAD, it would’ve been under Leekie’s or Rachel’s orders. They obviously kept it, but Leekie was killed suddenly and if it was Rachel she lost her position at DYAD shortly after. And I mean, I doubt either of those egomaniacs shared their secret stash of blackmail, so Delphine probably had no clue it even existed let alone where it was to get rid of it you know?” Now that she’s talking Cosima begins to go off track, “Maybe you should have told us sooner, Scott and I could have tried to sneak around and find it. Or we should have told Delphine. I know we didn’t trust her but we should have. It would’ve been worth a shot. Anyway,” her hands wave back and forth getting back on track, “So the gun’s somewhere in DYAD, which we know now has been infiltrated by Neolution. If one of them knew about the gun it would make sense for them to throw you under the bus and end any investigation quickly.”

 _“Yeah well unless you can prove that it’s only a matter of time until Felix is brought in.”_ Art’s words put Felix on edge again.

“Right. I’m coming back and Fee you’re coming here. S will get you here without the cops knowing. Start packing, yeah?” Felix immediately went to the closet and grabbed a suitcase. He laid it on the bed and began wondering the apartment grabbing clothes that were strewn about and tossing them onto the bed. “Art can you get that worm to Cos?”

_“I’ll bring it by Felix’s loft when I get the chance.”_

“I gotta go make plans with S. Oh and Art? Thanks…for this.”

 _“Anytime. I’ve got to get back to work.”_ With that both lines of communication were cut off and Cosima was left sitting on the couch as Felix continued to flit around his apartment.

****

As the hours passed by, well into the night, Arthur had dropped by after leaving work. The detective handed her a box she had yet to open and Mrs. S had called Felix with instructions and he had left on his way to Iceland, leaving Cosima alone. She sat in the dark unable to stop herself from thinking but also unable to really process any of the thoughts running through her mind. Continuing on with the state of mind that, until there was proof it was Delphine that was shot she wasn’t going to believe it was Delphine that had been shot, she stood and made her way to the counter. She sat at the bar and used a pair of scissors to open the box. On top there was a plastic bag with a note stuck to it. Pulling it out of the box she saw that the bag contained a cell phone. The note attached read _The cell phone was in the bag. The contacts would lead to some of you._

Pushing the power button on the phone Cosima sat and waited for it to turn on. The bright light of the phone drew her attention and she squinted, adjusting to it after sitting in the dark for so long. Immediately she was alerted to 26 missed calls. All of them were from today; all of them were from her. 

Setting the phone aside she reached into the box once more and pulled out another baggie. This one was holding a specimen tube and inside the tube was a wiggling grub of some sort. Cosima thought that Felix was right about this one, it was disgusting. She couldn’t even come up with a semblance of a reason that Delphine would have this at all, let alone have it in her bag. Flicking on a light she held the tube up to the light trying to examine the insect better. She couldn’t determine much but she did notice that it seemed to have blood on it. Sighing because she doesn’t really have what she needs to get answers regarding whatever this is, she puts the vial back in the bag. She then has the sinking realization that now that she’s quit DYAD and Scott was fired, she really has no way of getting the tools she wants and needs to look into this. What had she been thinking? And what was she going to do now?

Resigning herself to the fact that nothing was getting done tonight she made her way to the bed and collapsed onto it. She tossed and turned for almost half an hour but couldn’t take her mind off the times she spent in this bed with Delphine.

Grabbing a pillow and blanket she moved to the couch. Far less comfortable and much colder than the bed but hopefully she’d get some sleep. Instead she found herself plagued with memories of a tap to her back and _“I’m sorry”_ and the smiles and thrill of a breakthrough _“Ones and zeros.” “Binary. They were coding in ASC!”_ Delphine seemed to fill any space Cosima tried to focus on. Not just because of memories but because Delphine filled Cosima; she took a moment to smirk at the innuendo before moving on with her thoughts. She filled her heart, her mind, her soul _“pit of the soul can’t live without it kind of love”_ and now people were telling her that she was going to have to live without it.


	3. Helping Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song referenced in this chapter is Car Loop (Walk off the Earth) by Gang of Rhythm. Featuring a bug of course (plus a ukulele which reminds me of Race for Love by CMeWrite!). Check it out if you want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIfsVtmFoqU

A loud banging jars Cosima awake. Despite being hastily jerked back into reality she is slow to move. Groaning and rolling over on the couch Cosima’s tired mind and eyes slowly take in the bright light indicating that it’s too late in the day to just be waking up. It had only been a few hours since Cosima had fallen asleep anyway, after too many memories had crowded her mind she finally turned to pot, ate nearly an entire bag of chips on her own, and then settled down to sleep. As the knocking on the door grew louder and a familiar irritated British voice could be heard from the other side Cosima finally stood up and removed the screwdriver from the lock. To Cosima’s surprise it wasn’t only Sarah on the other side of the door but Cal stood there as well. “S is staying with Fee to watch Kira. I thought we might need Cal’s computer skills.”

Cal ran a hand nervously through his hair. “Hey.”

“Have you heard anything more from Art?” Sarah questioned as she led the way further into the apartment.

“He stopped by last night to drop off Delphine’s phone and that grub specimen.”

“Any clue what it is?”

“No. I have no clue why she’d be carrying that around.”

“Well we’ll work on finding out what the hell is going on.” With that the three of them settled into the loft each trying to think of what to do next.

The sound of “Walk off the Earth (car loop)” playing from Cosima’s personal cell broke dreadlocked clone from her already distracted thoughts. That ringtone was only set for one person. When Shay found out that Cosima had “Punch Buggy by Cletus” as her ringtone she had rolled her eyes and said, slight obsession with VW bugs or not, that song’s vibe didn’t mesh. Her response to that had been to raise her hand for a high five, one that was not returned. After a few days she had switched the ringtone to the Gang of Rhythm song that was currently playing.

She didn’t know how she felt about getting a call from Shay. Part of her was happy that maybe she could smooth things over and not have someone hate her but another part of, the part that was so relieved when Shay ended what they had with such finality, was dreading the possibilities that answering the call could lead to. Eventually her hand was holding the phone to ear as she was about to find out what this phone call would hold. “Uh hey. Hey Shay.”

_“I have something I need to show you. Can we meet up?”_

“Um, yeah I guess we can. Where do you…”

_“Just come to my place” Shay cut in._

“Ok. I’ll head over now.” When she brought the phone away from her ear and stood to make her way outside, she realized she hadn’t showered since the day of Alison’s celebration dinner. Making her way into the bathroom she tried to bathe as quickly as possible, trying not to think of removing a brain in this very tub. When she got out she hoped it was enough make her look a little less on edge than she actually was. Putting on a clean outfit she made her way out of the loft, down the stairs, and towards an apartment she was certainly no stranger to.

****

Knocking on Shay’s apartment door was tentative and such a large contrast to her usual attitude when coming here. This place was her escape, running away from everything she didn’t want to deal with; the disease, Castor, DYAD, and Delphine. There was nothing else in the city that was an escape. Everything else had a tie to what she was running from, all the people she knew, the places she could go, they all reminded her of things she didn’t want to be thinking about.

Being with Shay was easy, she reminded her San Fran. Not in the way that she reminded her of home, she loved San Fran but she also didn’t know the truth while she lived there. It was like living in a lie, but it was easy. Warm days spent in seemingly endless sunshine, long boards, floppy hats, and beaches. Shay would fit in down in San Fran, with hippies and health gurus. That’s what Shay reminded her of.

But when Cosima thought of home, of the feelings you got in your gut when you think of what home feels like, that certainly wasn’t Shay. That was Minnesota, the pursuit of the truth, of answers, endless possibilities, meeting sisters, finding love and understanding in unexpected places. That was Delphine. She was mystery and discovery somehow coming together in a way that seemed impossible but was everything Cosima wanted.

As these thoughts flitted through her mind the door before her was cracked open revealing Shay. When Shay confirmed it was Cosima outside her door she opened it all the way and let her walk in. Entering the apartment Cosima tried to put on a slight smile, tried to fall into routine and forget the outside world. Forget about possible murder investigations and Delphine’s bag sitting in a police station. After a beat of silence Cosima speaks up, “So you wanted to show me something?”

“Yeah. You’re crazy ex stopped by the other night. She was acting strange, well a different kind of strange than the usual crazy bitch anyway. She gave me this,” Shay holds up a small business card with DYAD across the front. She flips the card over and Cosima sees _324B21_ written in what she knew was Delphine’s handwriting across the bottom of the card. “She told me you could tell me everything.”

Staring in shock at the card Cosima felt as if her brain had screeched to a halt. Why would Delphine come see Shay again? Why did she give her the card? Why would she want Shay to know everything? Finally contributing back to conversation outside of her head she speaks up, “When did she come see you?”

“The day before yesterday. At night. She told me she wasn’t going to interfere in our relationship anymore. She told me to be good to you.” She said the last part with a slightly bitter edge, as if she hated the idea of Delphine actually doing anything that could be considered positive. As if she was waiting, and perhaps hoping, for this to be another trick and for that haunted look of unimaginable pain she’d seen on her face to be a lie.

“Shit. Shit. Shit! I’ve gotta go.” Reaching forward Cosima snatched the card from Shay’s fingers as she turned and quickly headed for the door. As the door shut she heard Shay’s “Hey!” calling behind her.

The walk back gave her ample time to think. What should she do? She was surprised to find that she didn’t want to tell Shay the truth. Before part of her had wanted to. The secrets were adding strain to their relationship, which was the opposite of why she was with her to begin with. Then she also felt bad, she had sent Delphine after her, believing she was the mole, and Cosima knew what it was like to not have answers to the crazy shit going on in your life. Maybe if she told Shay everything they could work it out, Shay might understand. But she didn’t want Shay to understand. She wanted Delphine. That’s what she actually wanted the entire time even when she tried to convince herself otherwise. Especially now that she had gotten over herself and faced the facts and apologized to Delphine. But what if she couldn’t have her anymore? That kiss. This trip to Shay. It was all starting to point too close to dead center at a final goodbye. No. Even if it was, _which it wasn’t_ she reminded herself, Delphine was it for her.

****

Standing outside the large metal door Cosima stands trying to think of what to tell Sarah. She doesn’t want to lie to her sister but she also knows if she tells her sister what Delphine said to Shay it would only make Sarah think Delphine was dead. Suddenly she heard Cal’s voice through the door, “Wow. Sarah you should check this out.” She was quick to pull the door open glad Sarah hadn’t put the screwdriver in after she left. She saw Cal and Sarah sitting at the bar in front of Cal’s laptop.

Cosima quickly moved to stand behind them and look over their shoulders. Her sudden appearance hardly went acknowledged as Cal began explaining what he’d found. “So I’d been checking into DYAD’s files. I got into this network and find some suspicious extra protections. I finally got past them and look what I’ve found.” Here he points a finger into the top left corner of his screen. “Personal files belonging to one Rachel Duncan. I know I’ve heard you say that name before.”

“What kind of stuff does she have in her files?” Sarah was quick to ask.

Cal clicks into the files revealing a long list of other folders. “Videos. A lot of videos. It looks like she has every room in DYAD rigged with cameras. Apparently the DYAD approved cameras weren’t enough.”

Here it’s Cosima’s turn to contribute to the conversation, “What?! That bitch.”

“For once proclone might have helped us out with her scheming though. When did she put these in?”

Cal continued through the files, he stopped when Sarah put her hand on his shoulder and uttered a “Wait.” The video was of an expansive and lavish room. Only two people stood in the room, Rachel and a man holding a laptop. The man spoke first, _“I’ve just started recording, all of your cameras are working perfectly. You’ll be amazed by the video and audio quality, it’s some of the best money can buy.”_ He handed the laptop over to Rachel but she refused to take it. Instead just glaring at him until he put the laptop on the table. Clearing his throat the man looked around nervously. _“You can go now.”_ Rachel’s sharp voice cut the silence. The man took the chance to scurry out of the room.

Now Sarah spoke up, “It’s not just DYAD she had rigged up. That’s her apartment.”

As they were watching some of the footage Cosima watched as Delphine leads Ethan Duncan into the lab. When she sees herself collapse and begin convulsing on the floor, with Delphine running to her and pulling her into her lap and screaming her name Cosima can barely breathe. She has never seen Delphine so distraught. It hurts her to witness Delphine in such a state. Cosima realized that these had been put in the day after she had gotten Delphine baked in the lab. Right after Leekie died of “natural causes” during his flight. Just when Rachel took over DYAD. She was thankful it didn’t happen sooner. That memory with Delphine was extremely private she didn’t want to think of anyone having been spying on them then.

They all gathered closer around the screen as Cal found the folder from the night they got the call from Art about the shooting. “Open the file for the one that says parking garage.” Cosima told Cal. Her heart started to beat faster as they got closer to finding out the truth.

“Any idea what time we’re looking for?” questioned Cal.

Cosima pulled her phone out and checked her text messages. She went to the last message she got from Delphine; the one letting her know she had made it to the dinner and was waiting outside. “Jump to 7:30 at night.”

He finds the footage and everyone waits with baited breath. They wait and wait as random people from DYAD get into or out of cars the only sounds that of footsteps, closing doors, and the beeps of car alarms being set. Sarah sighed after the first 15 minutes and stood up to get a beer. The only indication that anything had changed was the time count on the bottom of the screen, everything else in the footage remained the same. Everyone at DYAD having left for the night.

Finally at 7:57 a dark grey car pulled into the camera’s frame. The door opened and Delphine stepped out her steps echoing loudly in the garage and the silent apartment. She had hardly taken a few steps before another set of footsteps could be heard Cosima gasped and leaned closer still. Delphine seemed to pause for a second before bending down and placing her purse on the ground, they watched as Delphine straightened and turned around. Another figure walked into frame. Their face was covered and there was nothing discernible about them. “What will happen to her?” They are the first words spoken since they started watching, the audio is distant but the quiet of the nearly abandoned garage allows them to distinguish the words. Cosima had been breathing quickly, sounding nearly in a panic and seemed to let out an almost whimper as Delphine spoke those words.

There was no answer from the stranger only a gunshot cutting the silence. Sarah jumped and spilled some of her beer, Cal jerked back until his back hit the chair he was sitting in, Cosima let a scream that came out more as a strangled sob as they watched Delphine collapse back against a white car. Delphine’s ragged breathing was just loud enough to be picked up on the audio. Sarah could feel Cosima shaking next to her as the shooter stepped closer to Delphine. Despite being shot in the abdomen Delphine looked up into the face of her shooter once more. The gun was raised and everyone try to prepare themselves to see a final shot go into Delphine’s head.

Instead shooter’s arm pulled back and he pistol-whipped Delphine hard, hitting the side of her head. She immediately fell unconscious. Her body sprawled on the ground. The shooter signals with his left hand a large van pulls up right behind him the side door sliding open and two men climb out, pick up Delphine’s limp body, and get back into the van with her. The shooter placed the gun slightly under one of the cars nearby then followed the other men into the van. Cal paused the footage after the van took off and the room was thrown back into silence. Sarah could still feel Cosima shaking. She put a hand on her shoulder, “I’m so sorry.”

“We have to find her. Where did they take her?!”

“Cos with that much blood…”

“No! She’s not dead. He knocked her out instead of going for a kill shot. That means they want her alive.” Cosima insisted heatedly.

Sarah looked like she wanted to say something else but just closed her mouth and looked to Cal before looking back to her clone. “Ok but me and Cal are staying at S’s. I’m tired of living in a cramped space if I don’t have to.”

“I’m going to watch the rest of these videos. See if there’s anything else that might help us.” Like the scientist she was Cosima wanted the full story.

As Cal and Sarah were walking to the door Sarah called back to her, “Forgot to tell you since you got back just as we found the videos but the cops already stopped by looking for Fee. Almost took us in for questioning too but they didn’t. You should be in the clear if they stop by again just call.”

“Right. See you guys later.” The second the screwdriver was in the latch Cosima was rushing back to the laptop. Opening multiple windows she had the videos of the different rooms for the same day running at once. She settled in for a long night.


	4. Videos and Clarity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cosima finally gets to watch all of Rachel's videos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow you guys are amazing. Thank you so much! You really know how to make a girl feel good. I was really worried when posting this because I've always been pretty mediocre in classes where we had to write stories. I thought I'd get comments pointing out how many times I changed tenses in the middle of a paragraph or something (not that I would mind if you pointed out errors in my writing, as long as you're nice about it) but instead you're all so wonderful. I'm sure I'll get around to thanking all of you commenters personally but I figured that if you had to choose between a reply or a new chapter that you'd prefer the new chapter first. So without further ado onward to the new chapter! It's a long one too. Enjoy.

Cosima was beginning to realize there were many things she didn’t know. The first video of interest she found was of Delphine walking into Leekie’s office. Rachel was waiting there for her. What this moment was clicked after watching Rachel talking to Delphine, seeing Delphine walk behind the desk and then pause face angled down to look at the computer on the desk.

Cosima watched as Delphine walked out of the office and calmly but quickly made her way out of the building; eyes moving from one screen to another as Delphine was picked up by different cameras. She only talked to one person and when she walked out the doors and stepped into the back of a limo. She couldn’t see what happened next but she knew. Delphine had told her when she woke up to find her crying on the edge of her bed. Had told her that she thought she was protecting them, that one of Siobhan’s men had been working for Rachel but it was a setup to take Kira. At the time Cosima had still blamed her, even if not completely. How could she not know that it was a setup?

Now though? Now Cosima had been outsmarted by Rachel more than once. Rachel tricked them when she was in a wheelchair and injured. It was easy to see how that one-eyed bitch would be capable of manipulating the situations and people around her when she was running DYAD and had so many more resources. She can practically here her voice ringing in her own ears, _“What did you do?”_ The accusatory tone she’d use is now one she regrets.

Not long after Cosima watches Kira get brought in and placed in the room she’d visited her in, saw Sarah turn herself in, and she saw herself in her lab with Scott. She quickly moves her eyes from that screen to a screen with Delphine. She had seen her before working in a different lab when one of Rachel’s workers had brought her to Rachel. The three people stepped into an elevator and as the doors closed Rachel handed Delphine what looked like papers.

The feeling of guilt settled deep into her stomach only gets worse when she sees Delphine confronting Rachel. The way she says, _“You used me”_ tears at her. _“Please. Let me say goodbye to Cosima.”_ Hearing Delphine practically beg to see her again, just to say goodbye to her; it broke her heart. How could she have ever doubted her?

_“You forget Dr. Cormier none of this is personal.”_

_“I love her and if you let her die without me it is personal!”_ That surprised Cosima. Through both personal experience and viewing these videos it was clear that Delphine had always seemed scared of Rachel and here she was standing up to her. Because she loved her. Now not only did Cosima’s chest seem to physically hurt from her heart breaking but she also felt overwhelmed with a flood of love for Delphine. It was as if the love Delphine had for her could be felt even through the computer. These feelings in juxtaposition were an experience Cosima could only describe as weird.

As soon as Rachel stepped out of the elevator, leaving Delphine inside with a security guard, she immediately pulled out her phone.

Scott arguing with men in her lab had her glancing at that screen again. She had all of the screens muted; only turning up the volume when she was watching someone she knew or something that looked important. The last thing she needed was to hear every sound that was picked up from every camera going at once. The screen containing the video of her lab was muted but she didn’t need it, she knew exactly what was happening. She saw the Cosima in the video looking at her computer and then interfering in the argument between the two men. Delphine had just sent her Rachel’s schedule. That act made it possible to hatch a plan to get Sarah and Kira out of DYAD.

Sarah told her about Mrs. S’ scheming plans too. That she had worked with Paul and traded Helena for Sarah. Already Delphine was actively keeping her promise to Cosima. Who knows what would have happened to Delphine if Rachel found out she had sent that email. She risked it though, sent Cosima all the information she had and trusted them to figure a way to use it to help Sarah and Kira. She helped. It was a plan that would have worked without any of her sisters getting hurt. Instead Helena got traded to Castor which also led to Sarah being kidnapped by Castor.

****

Hours were spent watching herself and Scott form the plan and make the de-eyeing fire extinguisher. She was wide-eyed as she saw Rachel throw Kira’s bone marrow to the floor, condemning her to what everyone was sure would be her death. It would have been to if not for Delphine again. Although this time it was her love for Delphine. An unexplainable apparition that Cosima was sure was the only reason she had survived that night. When Sarah leaned over and squeezed the trigger and the pencil she herself had sharpened shot straight into Rachel’s eye she only cringed a little. For Cosima that day had seemed to go on forever. Waiting for news if the plan had worked. It seemed to happen so much quicker on video as she watched Sarah get to Kira and both of them escape DYAD’s clutches.

As days passed without much occurring Cosima increased the speed of the videos. These were a few quiet days as far as DYAD was concerned. Cosima was staying at Felix’s loft with Felix, Sarah, Kira, and Helena. Until Helena was taken by Castor.

Eventually Cosima saw Delphine’s form rushing through DYAD’s doors. She back up the video and slowed it back down to real time. When she saw Delphine enter the doors for the second time she noticed her confident fast walk. Hurrying into an elevator, back ramrod straight, Delphine made her way to Leekie’s, Rachel’s, no her own office. The clothes she was wearing were the same clothes she wore the first time she saw Delphine when she got back. Looking at the time stamp she realized it was just after Delphine had broken up with her. Sitting at the desk Delphine propped her elbows on the edge of the desk before her and her head lowered to her hands. It didn’t take long for Cosima to see her shoulders shaking but no sound came through the speakers. Cosima knew that across town she had been breaking down too.

****

This is how Cosima spent her days now. Sarah and Cal would come by every day and ask if she had found anything else out. Cal would get on another computer and continue using his mad computer skills to see if he could find anything useful too. It was during one such visit that Cosima and Sarah were sitting on the floor of the loft talking. “She had been right to break up with me.”

“What Cos, no…” Sarah tried to cut in, immediately thinking that Cosima was going to start going on about being undeserving but Cosima quickly cut her off too.

“No seriously. I should have understood it before. People were using me to use Delphine. She flat out told me she had given Leekie the information about us because he said I was in danger. At the time…at the time I had been so mad and upset that I didn’t really listen but it’s the answer the makes sense. If she had told him because she was one of them and it was her job than she would’ve mentioned Kira. That would’ve been the first thing to tell. I mean, she’s a huge anomaly for us, it’d have been groundbreaking. But she didn’t. She was looking for a threat and Kira clearly wasn’t the ambiguous threat she’d been told about. Ironically they were right. It was one of the clones that was the threat, it just so happens to be your twin that we all get along with now.”

Here both girl’s lips quirk up into a smile. “Then Rachel used the possibility of a cure for me, for us, to get her compliance after Leekie’s “heart attack”. Later she hinged her entire plan to get Kira on her belief that Delphine would warn you immediately about one of S’s men being compromised. And that of course let Rachel know beyond the shadow of a doubt where her loyalties were so she forced Delphine on a plane to Frankfurt. The only way for her to remain as the director of planet DYAD and not have this used against us was for us to not be together. I should have seen it.”

Sarah shifted uncomfortably with the weight of Cosima’s emotions so heavy in the air, “Better late than never, yeah?”

****

She lost track of time the way she had only ever done before when especially absorbed in a science project. Now that Delphine was back from Germany she stopped fast-forwarding the videos almost entirely. Delphine never seemed to leave. She spent all day at DYAD, heading meetings, and dealing with a slew of unsavory scumbags. When she wasn’t doing that she watched Delphine trying to work with LEDA instead of just working for them because LEDA wouldn’t cooperate. She was surprised by the amount of time Delphine spent planning with Sarah. She saw the entire events of Helsinki unfold before her eyes.

Having asked Sarah for more details when she got to those moments of the recordings. Even Alison had pitched in, walking in under the guise of being Sarah and being led to a holding room where she waited to trick Ferdinand. Delphine appeared to always be a step ahead, even ahead of Sarah. The cameras Rachel had in her own apartment allowed her to witness Sarah impersonating Rachel and holy shit did it make her feel ridiculous when she can’t even pretend to be Alison without telling an entire room full of parents that she was a lesbian.

Delphine’s plan had worked out perfectly though. She had rushed in and stopped Sarah from killing Ferdinand, forcing him to call off a hitman. Saving all of their lives at once. Every single self-aware LEDA clone owed her their life at least once.

Perhaps seeing all of these things: Delphine putting pressure on Rachel’s injured eye when she was seemingly helpless to get information about the Helsinki plan, Felix degrading and man-handling Rachel to discover where Sarah was, Scott being an accomplice to a certain extent, Sarah almost choking Ferdinand to death if Delphine hadn’t jumped in, maybe these things should have disgusted her. Instead she only felt guilt about her own behavior. Here all of these people were, willing to do anything for each other, to keep each other safe and where had she been? Running away. She had been so unwilling to even try to put her feelings to the side to work with Delphine after having been hurt that she ran away from it all. She didn’t go into the lab, didn’t even work on finding a cure anymore. She had been spending all of her time with Shay.

She watched as Delphine paced her office so many times she lost count trying to call her. She knew it would be pointless though, Cosima never answered her calls anymore.

Not only had she put her own health at risk she also risked her sisters’ lives. By not trying to find a cure and by not cooperating with Delphine. These revelations left her wondering how she had been so stupid in those weeks. Delphine had explicitly told her why she was breaking up with her, why they couldn’t be in a relationship and she had held it against her. She had always prided herself on being smart but she couldn’t remember the last time she had done something so utterly dumb.

It didn’t matter that she never answered her phone though. Delphine’s love and loyalty was as steady as the gravitational pull that kept all of the planets in sync. Even after all of her duties as DYAD director were finished, plus her work for Topside, and her interactions with LEDA, she still wasn’t done. Every night found Delphine in a very familiar lab. A clear dry-erase board was wheeled into the room by Delphine and she opened a briefcase pulling out files. Countless hours spent toiling to do the work that should have been Cosima’s. Succeeding despite her multiple never-ending jobs to figure out the science that she and Scott had missed. Watching her struggle to find a way to cure the sisters while also struggling to stay awake was killing Cosima in a more painful way than any polyps on her lungs ever managed. At the end of every night, which was actually the early hours of the morning, Delphine left the lab looking like the world was on her shoulders. A few hours would pass before Delphine came back, new clothes and confident look in place.

Having to watch her own interactions with Delphine hurt the most. Standing in front of the elevator and refusing to even look at Delphine, smirking when she told her how great she felt. Now that she saw the scene from the camera above the elevator she saw Delphine’s face, and how she swallowed after that comment, the physical pain that seemed to settle over her again. It was quickly wiped away as the two straightened, it was obvious the elevator had brought its occupants to their destination. She saw Delphine’s timid accepting smile as she greeted Felix and his snarky scathing greeting in return. A burning anger rose towards Felix in that moment but she pushed it down when she realized she had treated Delphine far worse. She had never stood up to Felix for Delphine she couldn’t call him and yell at him now.

Seeing herself lead Shay into the lab was hard to watch too. At the time she had done it for the same reason she had done anything with Shay to keep things easy. Shay was getting suspicious of her work at DYAD so she brought her to get her to stop asking questions. Even more shameful was the small hope she’d had that Delphine would find out and of course she did. Having walked into the lab as Cosima showed Shay around. As she showed Shay everything Delphine had worked hard to give her, a functioning lab with everything Cosima had asked for. A lab that Delphine spent so much more time in than Cosima did. It was vindictive and irresponsible. How could she think bringing someone to DYAD was a good idea? She had liked to think of herself as a nice person, kind-hearted, and here she was spending time hurting the woman she loved. The woman unflinchingly putting herself between clone club and all the dangers they faced.

****

It wasn’t much longer before the time stamp at the bottom of the screens let Cosima know that the she had reached the day in the tapes that Delphine was shot. Her attention couldn’t be pulled from the screen if Sarah and Cal started having sex in the apartment or if someone walked in offering her an ancient nautilus shell that was still perfectly intact. She watched every moment. Delphine talking on her phone early in the morning, meeting Sarah at the door, going over their plan, and Sarah hiding while Delphine met with Ferdinand.

That man gave her the creeps. She hated the way he looked at and spoke to Delphine but there was nothing she could do now. She watched Sarah’s big reveal. A part of her was slightly jealous at these moments, Sarah and Delphine were a good team and the attitudes both presented in these confrontations with other people seemed like they could make fun memories to look back on. Like her memories of them geeking out together over crazy science; well not “crazy science”, those were great memories too, but geeking out over actual science. Except instead of being on the geeky spectrum they would get to be in the cool and badass side of the spectrum. To stand by Delphine’s side in confrontation instead of against her. That’s what she wants.

Ferdinand was impressed by their scheming and agreed to the plan. With Sarah and Ferdinand leaving to continue with the next step of the plan, Ferdinand taking out Coady for samples of the original, Delphine stayed at DYAD. She walked to where Rachel was being held and looked over her medical charts with Nealon at her side. When she sent Nealon from the room and stepped closer to Rachel’s body. Cosima nearly jumped out of her skin when Rachel jerked awake and smacked Delphine in the face. The blonde was quick to jump back up though and tried to calm Rachel down. She gasped when she found out that Rachel wasn’t Rachel but yet another clone named Krystal.

As Delphine went to pull away the bandage covering Krystal’s eye Cosima was on the edge of her seat. The relief Delphine felt was clearly visible on her face and in her voice when she said, _“You’re fine.”_ Cosima didn’t even know this clone but it was clear that Delphine cared about her too _“Then I love all of you”_ was once more ringing in her ears.

Next Delphine ordered security to take Nealon to a holding room to be interrogated and immediately went back to this unknown sister’s side. Helping the clone out of bed Delphine led her from the room. Stopping at a storage room Delphine went over to shelving that held extra clothing. She pulled out some clothes, handed them to Krystal, and then left the room to give Krystal room to change. After she was dressed Cosima recognized the clothes as the same type that Sarah and Duncan had been dressed in when both were prisoners at DYAD.

With a guiding hand to her back Delphine walked with a frightened Krystal up to her office. Delphine was trying to convince Krystal to leave but Krystal refused to leave wanted to answers to why these _“weird things”_ kept happening. Even after assuring that she’d explain what was happening later Krystal said she wouldn’t leave until she had answers. Yet again their genetic predisposition to stubbornness won out.

When a secretary walked in and handed Delphine a file that she had requested on Nealon and recent records of Krystal Goodritch she reluctantly agreed to let Krystal stay. Telling the shaken clone that her office wasn’t the safest place for her to be waiting without Delphine given what she was starting to uncover. The taller of the two blondes escorted the other to a small waiting room that was left empty. Once she had told Krystal she would be back and made sure to tell her to lock the door she went in search of Nealon.

****

Cosima would be lying if she tried to deny that Delphine’s angry/determined walk wasn’t a total turn on. As Nealon’s interrogation continued to unfold Cosima felt the tension of the room cause tension to coil in her own body. _“We have a place for you. It’s a one-time offer.”_

Cosima felt pride for Delphine when she scoffed at the offer, _“You’re finished.”_

Her heart was beating so hard it hurt when she saw Nealon jump out of his seat and attack Delphine. She knew Delphine made it out of this encounter but the reaction was just as visceral all the same. She could hear the sounds of Delphine’s struggles to get Nealon off of her as he choked her, his weight keeping her pinned beneath him on the table. Blood could be seen dripping from Nealon’s mouth onto Delphine’s face but she couldn’t see from the angle of the camera what was going on. When the gunshot rang out and Nealon fell from Delphine’s body to collapse on the floor Cosima had never been happier to see someone get hurt. Gasping for air Delphine stood and wiped at the blood on her face, smearing it. She heard Nealon’s words cut her like a knife, _“You won’t live ‘til morning.”_ Before he went completely still.

Delphine’s hand was visibly shaking and Cosima was hit with the fact that Delphine had never taken a life before. It was obvious, she knew Delphine and knew she would never want to hurt someone, but after being faced with her head-bitch-in-charge alter ego she had somehow forgotten that Delphine was just as inexperienced in this stuff as Cosima was. When Delphine’s first reaction to having someone try to kill her, killing them in self-defense, and being warned that she’d be dead come tomorrow was to grab her cell and call Sarah to warn them not to trust Ferdinand and that Neolution was a problem again Cosima was both in awe yet still not surprised in the slightest. If this look she had been getting into Delphine’s life had taught her anything it was how selfless this woman was.

It was during this phone call that Cosima also saw Delphine pulling a familiar looking grub out of Nealon’s mouth. Well that explained why she was carrying it around and why Nealon’s mouth had been bleeding, but it did nothing to explain what the hell it was.

Delphine was quick to make her way back to Krystal. When Krystal unlocked the door to the room she was in after Delphine announced herself she let out a yell at seeing the blood. Delphine seemed shocked as well and wiped at it again but it made little difference. Quickly Delphine took Krystal back to her office and pulled out her purse. She grabbed her wallet and gave Krystal all of the money she had. _“Take this. Get a motel room. Somewhere you do not need to show your ID.”_

Now Delphine was frantically writing on a piece of paper as she continued to talk, _“I need you to take this information and deliver it for me. I know you are confused.”_ At this she stopped writing and Krystal in the eye. _“You have every right to know what is happening to you. I’m afraid I don’t have the time to explain everything but I know people who can. Your sisters. You have sisters and they can help you. If you don’t want any further involvement in all of this call this number. The woman is your sister, her name is Sarah. Tell her the only involvement you want is for her help in getting away from this. Or you can ask her for the answers you want.”_

_“What do you mean I have sisters? Why is there blood? What happened since you left?!”_

_“I can’t explain. You are scared, I understand, but I need you to trust me. Please trust me.”_ The pleading in her voice seemed to calm Krystal and after a pause she nodded her head. _“I’ll take you to the exit. When you leave I need you to walk away, don’t get in a cab immediately. Wait until you are out of sight of this building. Get a room as I said. Lay low for a couple days and things will calm down. Then call the number and deliver this to Sarah when you see her. Please.”_

_“Ok. Ok I will.”_

_“Thank you.”_ Cosima watched Delphine take Krystal down a back stairwell and out of the DYAD building, sending her off to safety.

****

The next stop for Delphine was her office yet again. In the attached bathroom she scrubbed her face clean and changed her shirt to a spare one kept in her office. Once she was sitting at her desk again Delphine pulled out the vial containing the worm and spent some time looking at it. After a few minutes she quickly put the specimen tube in her bag and walked down to the lab.

Nearly all of DYAD was empty as Delphine made her way to the older of the two buildings. Swiping her badge at the door, the light flashed red, denying her access, and Delphine let out a small disbelieving scoff as she leaned against the door head coming to rest on the cool metal. A moment later Delphine pulled a tablet from her bag and quickly overrode the security system letting herself into the lab.

As the door swung open before her she seemed to take a deep breath. She took a flash drive from her bag and got onto Scott’s computer. She stepped out to the closet down the hall and grabbed some supplies. She came back with the board she had written notes on and some folded up boxes. She set the boxes on one of the lab benches and walked over to her bag. Out of the bag she pulled out a large folder, it looked like it could barely remain closed with the amount of papers and journals filling it. She placed the files next to the boxes and, after folding the cardboard in a box, placed the files inside.

She took the lab’s camera from a cupboard and snapped pictures of the information written on the dry-erase board. After working on the computer some more the flash drive was removed and added to the box as well. The lid was placed on the box. Delphine used a marker to write something on the box and placed it off to the side with another box that Scott had been using to pack up some of his things after being fired. When he came back for the rest of his things he’d see it and no one else from DYAD would bother going through the box if they made their way into the lab.

Grabbing the eraser Delphine began wiping the board clean. Her swipes became more aggressive with each pass and when the board was clear she let out a choked yell and threw the eraser across the lab. Cosima felt the yell rip through her and squeeze at her heart. Delphine made her way to the couch and collapsed on it. She began sobbing as she lay draped across the couch. Cosima’s eyes were stinging and she felt her tears begin to fall as she heard Delphine whispering _“Je t'aime”_ into the silence of the lab.

It was the same place where they had first said they loved each other and for Delphine it would be the last place she said it. Only this time there was so response given, no threat to ruin her career, no reciprocated love, just an empty lab.

Sitting up Delphine wiped her face then crossed the room and picked up the eraser she had thrown. Putting the eraser in its place she grabbed her bag and began to leave the lab. Stopping at the door Delphine turned around and leaned against the door. After a final look at the lab she had once shared with the love of her life she turned and left.

****

Back in her office Cosima could see her holding a business card in hands. A business card Cosima recognized. She was quick to reach for the card that had been left on the edge of the counter. She felt connected to Delphine now, holding the same card she was holding in the video. A card that would be gifted to Shay as an apology and a chance with Cosima. A message to Cosima that Delphine gave her blessing in all things. One Cosima got loud and clear but could not heed. She had loved Delphine from the very beginning and now that she had stopped pretending she could ever move on there was no going back. Suddenly Felix’s words came back to her, _“And what is it that I’m looking for?” “Someone who will stay in your heart no matter what.”_ Oh she could imagine Felix’s frustrated reaction when his own words only further cemented her relationship with Delphine.

Cosima continued to watch as Delphine proudly walked out of DYAD looking for all the world as if there wasn’t a hit on her at that very moment. She stopped the videos before she had to witness Delphine being shot again. Sarah had definitely been wrong about not needing to watch all of the footage. She had learned so much. Her apology to Delphine outside Bubbles was nowhere near enough.

The memory of the weight of Delphine’s gaze as Cosima apologized is even more heart-wrenching now that she knows so much more. _I was such an idiot. I’m supposed to know her, how could I not see it? First I don’t trust her and then I can’t see that something’s wrong. She must’ve thought I didn’t know her at all._ She promised to herself that she would find Delphine and spend the rest of her life making up for the mistakes she’d made.


	5. Making Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone that has commented, left kudos, or even simply taken the time to read. I probably shouldn't be updated so frequently because I'm sure to be putting this up faster than I can write ahead and it's sure to catch up to me at some point. But I just can't stop! I hope you enjoy my complete lack of self control.

Cal and Sarah had just arrived at the loft in the early afternoon. Cosima greets them from her spot on the floor, “Have you guys found anything else out? Oh and I, uh, I wanted to thank you guys for this. Helping out.”

“Of course Cos. If there’s any chance Delphine might be alive we gotta try. I might’ve judged her and maybe I act like she’s a bloody bitch but once you get to know her she ain’t that bad…don’t tell Fee I said that.”

Here Cosima let out a small chuckle before sobering, “She is alive. She has to be.” Sarah bumped her shoulder into her dreadlocked sister and they all settled in to continue their investigations.

****

It was the next day when Sarah got a call from an unknown number. Answering the phone with her permanent suspicious attitude Sarah was surprised to hear a voice she recognized, even if she’d only heard it once before. _“Hi. Is this Sarah? I’m Krystal. I’m, like, your sister I guess. I was told you’d give me answers.”_

Pulling the phone away from her ear she said to herself, “How the bloody hell did she get this number?”

Cosima was standing very close to her looking at her with questioning eyes “Hey. Who is it?”

“Krystal. One of us.”

“Krystal? She was on the tapes. Delphine gave her the number!”

Sarah’s brow furrowed, “What? When did she meet Delphine?”

“Nealon took Krystal and put her in an induced coma. He drugged her and made her switch places with Rachel.”

Mouth hanging open in shock Sarah is quick to respond, “What?! When did that happen? Why didn’t you tell us you saw that on the recordings?”

Cosima shrugs. “I’ve been busy trying to find Delphine. Plus maybe besides arguing we should talk to our sister,” she said pointedly looking at the phone still held in Sarah’s hand.

Sarah turned back to her conversation with Krystal, “Yeah. Where are you so we can talk?”

Krystal paused, _“I don’t think I should tell you. I was told to lay low you know. Maybe we should be somewhere else to like figure this whole mess out.”_

“Just bring her here.” Cosima suggested. Sarah hesitated before telling her the address to the flat and hanging up.

****

Timid knocking on the door has Sarah sliding open the door to another clone. When the blonde on the other side sees Sarah her eyes get wide and “Holy shit” are the first words to leave her mouth. As Sarah stepped aside, Krystal slowly made her way inside peering around and catching sight of Cosima waiting for on the couch. Her eyes continue to look around and when she sees no one else she acknowledges the other two in the room. “I was hoping the doctor, Delphine, would be here too. It was like obvious that something was wrong but I thought it had to do with my being kidnapped. I thought maybe she’d have sorted things out by now and have been, like, here to explain everything too.”

Cosima drew in a breath but it was Sarah that spoke, “Delphine’s um…” after casting a quick glance at Cosima, “she’s missing.”

“But you have a way to find her right?” Krystal’s voice is genuine and concerned.

Sarah tries to sound confident as she responds, “We’re working on figuring that out.”

“Can I help? With anything?”

“Not right now. We’re doing all we can.”

After a brief pause Krystal decides to move on to the next point of interest, “Well what the hell is going on with all of this then.” She asks motioning around to the three identical women in the room. “I didn’t even have a clue that I had twins.”

“We’re not twins. We’re clones.” Krystal’s eyes go wide and she freezes.

Cosima turns to Sarah with a partly scolding but mostly amused expression, “Way to break it to her gently.”

Sarah scoffs, “It’s not like being gentle is going to make this any easier.”

“Clones?”

Cosima opens her mouth to begin what Sarah is sure will be a lengthy and jargon filled ramble explaining cloning but Sarah stops her with a raised hand. By the time this brief exchange has occurred Krystal lets out a little relieved breath, “Well I guess clones is better than twins. They are just sooo creepy.” This makes Sarah and Cosima burst out laughing.

****

The night is spent explaining all of the craziness that overtook their lives and a little bit of getting to know each other. Sarah and Cosima are both surprised by how much information Krystal had been pulling together without anyone else’s help. Neither was sure how some of the clones in Europe became self-aware but Beth found out from Katja and expanded the investigation with her resources as a cop. She shared the information with Cosima and Alison. Sarah got more information with the police resources when she was impersonating Beth. Then the clone club began to get insider information from Helena about Prolethean. DYAD became more involved and more information was uncovered. Krystal didn’t have any of these connections and her findings were insightful.

“This was given to me to give to you. By Delphine. Like I said I was hoping she had sorted out whatever was going on and would be here herself but…since she’s not.” Krystal held out an envelope to them.

Cosima realized it must be one of the things she had seen Delphine give to Krystal when she took her to her office before helping her escape DYAD. Quickly leaning over Cosima took it and with slightly shaking fingers opened the envelope. Inside were a debit card and a folded piece of paper with all of Delphine’s banking information on it. She was giving them complete access to her accounts because she knew she wouldn’t need them anymore. Cosima closed her eyes trying to silence the voice in her head. Delphine would need these back.

“Her bank information? She left us all her money?” the Brit was incredulous but the shocked expression was quickly followed by a smirk, “How much do you think the doctor’s put away?” The anger that flashed in Cosima’s eyes was enough to stop Sarah from continuing that track.

Later that night Sarah and Cosima had offered Krystal a place to stay at Siobhan’s but she was still a little hesitant about this whole situation and had instead headed back to wherever she was currently hiding out with a promise from Sarah to get her hands on a clone club cell for her.

After Krystal left and the two remaining clones sat on the couch the American clone turned to her British counterpart, “We need to find a lab that I can work in. Geek monkey right.” Cosima’s cheeky grin made an appearance but it wasn’t bright as Sarah was used to seeing. Every smile she offered nowadays seemed dimmer after the news about Delphine.

“A lab? I almost forgot you quit DYAD. It’s probably for the better, yeah? Without Delphine it’s probably not safe for us anymore.” Sarah ran a hand through her hair, “So you mean you’re headed back to school?”

Cosima’s hands began moving around her as she spoke, “Well going back to university would be as a last resort. I have too much to do, finding Delphine, working on a cure for us; I really don’t need to be school to that.” While what she said was all true now that it’s brought up and she tried to picture going back, no not just going back but going back without Delphine, and it made her feel sick. “There’s got to be someplace here that we can find.”

It took a while but they eventually scrounged up a location and some equipment that Cosima could use to work on the science. When Cosima first saw the place it made the old wing “clone jail” of DYAD look like a science Mecca; even before Delphine’s renovations were implemented. She had her work cut out for her trying to do groundbreaking science here. She contemplated the existence of karma, not the typical karma that has the actions of one life bleeding consequences into future lives, but more of the instant variety. Use it or lose it was a phrase that also popped into her mind. Now she really did have a shit lab, _this is so much worse than a community college_. She’d make it work though. Delphine was right, the science was her responsibility. If she wanted to save her sisters, and herself, she had to make this work. Not to mention that if she wanted to find Delphine than she sort of had to be alive. With all of this in mind she set to work.

****

Progress was slow but it was going at least. Now that Cosima was focused on her work she was making headway. With their original genome discovered the clone had made a medication that helped ease the symptoms. It wasn’t a cure but it was a definite step in the right direction. The bleeding stopped and her immune system was given the opportunity to recover some.

She doesn’t know how she could let it get so bad. How could she claim that Delphine was on a crazy power trip and wouldn’t leave her alone because she asked for a urine sample? The disease was running its course, she had been dying, and doing nothing to stop it. Don’t fight me. You know this is important. She wonders how things might have been different if she hadn’t fought Delphine every step of the way.

Guilt was eating at her for her harsh comments, especially for venting to Felix because now he’d feel even more justified in his mistreatment of her. The only consolation she felt was that Delphine hadn’t been there to hear that comment, even that wasn’t much of a balm to her guilt though.

“Creepy grub subject 1” as she had dubbed it was a different matter entirely. She was stumped. According to her research she had ruled out the Orders of Diptera and Lepidoptera. It definitely appeared to be in the Coleoptera order. While it had the crescent anal slit and triangular raster pattern one might expect to find on a Japanese beetle it had other similar the physical traits of Chrysomelid beetles which belong in the genus Diamphidia and not Popillia like Japanese beetles. Other than being a mash up of different species she couldn’t figure out what its nefarious purpose was meant to be. If she had a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy machine she might be able to detect some sort of trace poison but she didn’t have that equipment handy. And why have a grub be your capsule of choice? She was flipping through her grub identification guide textbook when her phone rang.

“Hey. What’s up?”

Sarah’s voice answered on the other side, _“You’re going to want to get over here. Cal thinks he might have found something…About Delphine.”_

“Seriously? I’m on my way,” was Cosima’s rushed response as she slammed the book, grabbed her things, and rushed out of the “lab” she was holed up in.

****

Sarah and Cal were sitting at the kitchen table when they heard a thud at the door. The punk was fairly certain it was her geeky clone on the other side of the door and when she got to the door her thoughts were confirmed. Opening the door she was faced with an embarrassed Cosima who had obviously just tried to rush inside only to be thwarted by a locked door. Sarah let out a chuckle, “its habit to keep it locked all the time now.”

Not offering a response Cosima hurried into the kitchen and stood looking over Cal’s shoulder and Sarah returned to her seat. “What’d you find?”

Cal’s deep voice was quick to respond, “You gave me that list of DYAD’s “big players” that you picked out after watching all those videos so I’ve been looking into all of them. This guy, Ferdinand, he’s got a warehouse that he’s making payments on.

“A warehouse? He’s a cleaner for topside what’s he need a warehouse for?” Cosima looked between the two.

“This stuff is making this creep even sketchier than he was before,” Sarah offered her opinion on man she’s had dealings with before.

Cal motioned to his laptop screen, “It definitely looks like he’s up to something. The warehouse has its own network and I’ve been trying to hack into it for two days now. With a little help from some old friends of mine I think I’ve finally gotten in.”

Three sets of eyes watched the screen intently as Cal scrolled through screens of computer jargon that stumped both Sarah and Cosima. Eventually the screen he was at popped up with a bunch of previously encrypted files. Forms, contacts, budgets, and other things that may prove to be useful to clone club in the future were opened by Cal. Twenty-six minutes of sorting documents and downloading them for future reference Cal clicked on a folder and a new window opened. It was a video player. The screen was split and there appeared to be only two cameras in the warehouse; one in a small room with a bed inside and another camera filming the hallway outside the room.

Sarah rolled her eyes and broke the silence, “It looks like BDSM isn’t the only kink they share. They’re both voyeurs too.”

“Whoa, dude check it out.” Cosima leaned in closer as Ferdinand walked down the hallway and into the room with the second camera. He looked around the place, looked up to the camera, and sauntered back into the hallway. _“Bring her,”_ his accented voice called out. Within a few minutes a group of people came hurrying into frame. Two men were carrying a stretcher and Cosima gasped when she saw the body being carried atop it.

“Delphine,” left her lips in a harsh whisper.

“Holy shite.”

****

Delphine appeared to be unconscious given the way her head and limbs lulled on the stretcher. A man walked next to her pressing a cloth to her bloodied abdomen. More men and women followed bringing with them equipment and supplies.

Once in the room Delphine was set on the bed and a man in a lab coat began directing Delphine’s treatment. She was hooked up to a blood supply, it was clear she needed a transfusion to cope with the blood loss. Her jacket was moved further apart and her shirt opened. Tears welled up in Cosima’s eyes watching the blonde being stitched back together.

Once the medical team was finished and Delphine was stabilized the room began clearing out. Ferdinand was the last to leave. He paused at the door and turned to watch her for a little longer before stepping out and closing the door. There was a keypad next to the door and he punched in a code before walking out of the range of the camera. Cosima’s emotions were roiling. She was overcome with relief that Delphine was alive but fear at why Ferdinand had taken her refused to let her relax.

Watching the unconscious woman laying alone in the room it seemed like it took a long time for Delphine to wake up.


	6. Captivity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think I'd make you wait too long for the new chapter did you? I wouldn't do that to you after how I ended it with Delphine. For this chapter we switch to Delphine's POV and get some backstory! I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading

The first thing Delphine became aware of was pain, a constant thrumming pulsing through her. Her worry began to mount as the pain continued and nothing else existed. Slowly other things began to trickle into her senses. Voices, images, feelings, blossoming into existence on this previously barren landscape that knew only pain. _“Enchanté.” “I love you too.”_ Those were the first things sounds to appear to her, _Cosima_ , a sense of peace settled in her heart, mind, and soul.

The peace she felt only increased as sights and sounds around her continued. She saw Sarah and Kira. Lying in the snow, smiles stretching as far as their faces would allow. Reunited at last. Alison fussing over a family dinner looking at the two faces smiling up at her from the table. Donnie comes out from the kitchen carrying cups and he smiles as he passes her on his way to his own chair at the table. Cosima smiling as she discovers a treatment for herself and her sisters. Helena is sitting on a couch with a baby lying against her chest, a bottle feeding the baby in one hand, the other being used to move powdered donuts into her own mouth at a steady pace. Krystal doing her sisters’ nails and rambling on with a happy story that has everyone smiling, even as Sarah rolls her eyes when Krystal moves to do her nails.

Did she have happiness outside of this? She couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter though, she had happiness through them. Nothing was real outside of these images until suddenly the pulsing pain seemed to be getting stronger than the pulsing of her heart. It was all-encompassing and Delphine felt herself begin to panic, being ripped from the sense of peace that had begun to settle.

Abruptly a cooling wave seemed to rush over her, as a soothing voice filled her ears, and a smiling face she’d know anywhere appeared before her, looking only at her. All of the pain stopped, not a trace left to her awareness. If she had thought she’d had a sense of peace before than this was paradise, nirvana, heaven, call it what you will but Delphine had finally found it. _“Hey. Hey, it’s okay. Don’t panic.”_ Sitting at Delphine’s feet Cosima pulled them into her lap and her hands danced along calf muscles. Delphine could do nothing but stare at Cosima with wide eyes. She was as beautiful as always, but she radiated health, happiness, and a calm that seemed boundless and incomprehensible. Now Cosima moved and stretched out along Delphine’s body, leaning over her, _“Our love can’t just go away Delphine. It’s always here.”_ Her hand landed over Delphine’s heart and she felt its beating become steadier. With a cheeky grin, tongue poking out and all, Cosima maintained eye contact while leaning forward and bumping Delphine’s nose with her own.

The steady beating of her heart became louder and sharper to her ears, shifting into a higher pitch. A light penetrated her eyelids and hazel eyes flicked open to an unfamiliar room. The only sound to break the silence here is the heart monitor beeping.

****

Pain to acute to ignore starting in her both abdomen and the left side of her head seemed to leech out to the rest of her body. She tried to move, to get up and figure out what was going on, but her muscles were heavy and lethargic. A single door was the only way in or out of the room. Delphine held her breath as that door slowly opened. She felt both annoyance and dread spike in her as Ferdinand walked into the room with a menacing smile on his face. _Merde_. He was a snake, or perhaps a rat, she couldn’t decide but he was an unpleasant pest that tried to disguise himself with suits.

“Ah finally awake I see. You seemed touch and go for a while but we have our methods of keeping you alive.”

Delphine didn’t respond but he didn’t seem to mind being the only one talking. “You see a shot to liver now that can be unpleasant. You lost a lot of blood. Enough blood that you could easily be dead. But we’ve advanced our technology to the point of making human clones. We had all the knowledge we needed to save you. All it took was a little blood sample from you and we were able to clone your blood cells. I’ve been working on this since you were in Frankfurt. It’s nice, having a guaranteed match with no worry that your body might reject it. It’s a pretty complicated process but you’re the scientist of the two of us. I’m sure you have a better idea how they did this than I do.”

He turned back to her in time to see her eyes starting to droop. Whatever drugs they had her on were starting to take its toll on her body. “We’ll continue this later,” is the last thing she hears as sleep consumes her once more.

****

A loud noise jarred Delphine awake. In her surprise her muscles coiled, ready to spring up, this action caused pain to course through her body. Gasping she tried to force her muscles to relax. Ferdinand looked down at her with a smile, hands still poised over her face where he’d clapped them for a rather rude awakening.

He tries for an air of disinterest, “Now that you’re awake I suppose we can talk.”

“What do you want Ferdinand?” Becoming more aware of her surroundings Delphine realizes that her while her left arm is hooked up to an IV her right wrist is handcuffed to the bed.

“We’ll get to that. You know I must say that I’m rather impressed by you. All of that planning: the role-play with Sarah as Rachel and who knows which as Sarah, getting rid of Castor, sniffing out Nealon, yes all rather impressive. You were even better than I gave you credit for the last time we talked, but not quite good enough was it? Although it shouldn’t be that surprising should it. This was never the position you wanted. This sort of business was never your passion. You never wanted this; you much prefer discovery to deceit. You get more joy out of sharing your knowledge than shrouding your secrets. This little endeavor you undertook to protect LEDA was doomed to failure from the start.

Delphine kept her eyes trained on him as he continued around the room. His voice became both more amused and more threatening as he continued, “You reprimanded me for screwing Rachel but it’s you that’s gotten too close the experiments.” 

“They are not experiments!” Delphine spits out venomously without thinking. She was normally much better at controlling herself. Thinking before she speaks was common practice for her but right now everything was catching up to her. The lack of sleep, the pressure of her position, being shot, the happiness she’d experienced not long ago from her visions being ripped away by reality. She was too raw at the moment, not thinking clearly.

Ferdinand pauses and just looks at her for a few moments, “As I said,” he adds dismissively. Walking to her side he gives a quick jab at the wound on her stomach. Delphine lets out a scream as her body jerks trying to curl in on itself. She drops her head back on the pillow breathing through gritted teeth.

“I also told you that I would have you toiling under my heel.” He continues standing over her and as a single tear escapes her eye and drips down into her hair he turns and leaves the room.

****

Sitting alone Delphine contemplated how her life had come to this. Throughout her life the blonde has always been a loner. Her father had left when she was a young child. Apparently a family was too much for him to handle. They still lived comfortably, with the money he sent, and Delphine was sent to a distinguished boarding school. Her mother passed away when she was 15. Her father didn’t even come to the funeral. It was a little over a year later that she got news of his death. He willed the majority of his money elsewhere but with what she was left and a scholarship she was able to remain at her school.

As a quiet child Delphine had no real friends, she was too shy or too geeky. There were a few boys that took notice of her though. The relationships never lasted. In fact they never seemed to be real in the first place. There was no substance. She would sit by a boy and he would ignore her to talk loudly with his friends. When they tried talking to each other his eyes would glaze when she’d talk about her intellectual ponderings from science to philosophy, science being the most frequented topic she tried to connect to people with, and he would get frustrated when she didn’t find his stupid jokes funny.

Doomed. Each fleeting “relationship” from boarding school was nothing more than a label that was quickly peeled away. By the time she entered university Delphine had matured. She was sure she’d never fall in love. Science was her focus and her goal in life. University was also the first time Delphine had sex. It was nothing spectacular but it was human interaction and the rush of dopamine, norepinephrine, and endorphins were great for the stress of her coursework.

It wasn’t until she was working on her doctorate that the next big life-changing moment happened in her life. As the tall blonde walked into her favorite dining hall at her university with her bag slung over her shoulder she noticed it was there seemed to be more tables chatting excitedly today. It was usually fairly quiet this early in the morning. Sitting down at a table by herself Delphine enjoyed a simple breakfast before making her way across campus for her cellular evolutionary development class. Entering the ecology building Delphine noticed a new poster added to the notice board.

Most of the flier was occupied by a confident looking man. Well at least she was sure confident was the intent. Other words come to mind though, smug and egotistical among them. She was reluctant to go but when she saw he worked at DYAD she knew she would go. The DYAD was one of the largest scientific institutions in the world. She wasn’t sure what this man would be talking about but surely it would be fascinating.

****

That night Delphine found herself finding a seat towards the front of the university’s nicest lecture hall. Loud voices coming from the back of the room caused her to turn her head. She quickly turned back around and refused to look back again. The group of men that had entered were in many of her classes and made a near constant effort to make their opinions of a female in the STEM fields known to her. After a few muttered jabs as they sat down around her she was debating whether or not to snap back an insult when the lights dimmed and the man from the poster walked onto the floor.

Delphine had to admit that this Dr. Leekie was a very charismatic speaker. Of course there were issues she took with his presentation. The way he spoke of self-directed evolution made her want to debate the point. Evolution was the procession of genetic variation to heritable traits for adaptation. Implanted chips and similar alterations to one’s own body could not be passed on to offspring and so did not qualify as evolution. It made for a fascinating discussion either way. Not that she had anyone to discuss it with but she could still think on it.

When the presentation was done the mixer began. Drinks, hors d'oeuvres, even the newest book by one Dr. Leekie were set out. She was standing by herself with a glass of wine in her hand when she decided now was as good a time as any to take her leave. As she was getting ready to walk out she rolled her eyes when she noticed the group of boys confidently stride over to Leekie and strike up a conversation with him. Suddenly Leekie looked over their shoulders and made eye contact with her. Putting down the glass in her hands she turned and left the mixer.

Two days later she was sitting in her immunology lab when the entire lab got quiet. Looking up she saw Dr. Leekie walk into the room behind one of the professors. Some of the more bold students were quick to start talking with him. He smiled and chatted with others even as he made his way steadily to her lab bench and she was surprised when he introduced himself to her. He spoke French well, she’d give him that. After exchanging greetings he spoke a little of the DYAD institute. “You know I hear you’re one of the top students in this department. The DYAD is always looking for the best and brightest. You should look into applying. I’d be happy to take a look at your application personally.”

Delphine was stunned, “Me? No, no, no.”

“Consider it,” Leekie cut her off.

Handing her his business card he bid farewell to her and the rest of the students on his way out of the lab. Looking across the lab Delphine caught side of the disbelieving looks on the faces of a particular group of students, the boys that always harassed her. Pride coursed through her in that moment and she couldn’t stop a smile settling on her lips as she slipped the business card into her pocket.

****

Shock. That was the only way to describe Delphine’s current state. After thoroughly researching DYAD she had sent in an application and here she sat with an acceptance letter before her. An internship. That is the offer. It’s one of the most sought after positions and it had been offered to her. If she accepted Delphine would be working part-time at the branch that was here in Paris. How could she possibly turn this down?

Delphine was sure she’d never been happier. This internship was more than she had ever dreamed. This is what she wanted in life, a job doing what she loved. Every day spent working on science. Being challenged and having a constant sense of discovery surrounding her caused her to flourish. Dr. Leekie was still stationed here for the time being. He took Delphine under his wing and became a mentor to her. Despite the stress of final exams and her dissertation fast approaching Delphine was never surer of her direction in life. 

****

She was sitting in one of DYAD’s break rooms eating her lunch when her mentor sat beside her, “You graduate this Saturday are you ready?”

Delphine quickly swallowed the bite of food she’d just taken, “Yes, of course. I can’t believe that I’m actually going to be finished with university.”

“It is quite the achievement for anyone but especially for one so young. You should be proud. Though it’s not all that surprising with someone of your talent and promise…”

Delphine looked shyly at the table, slightly awkward when given compliments.

“Have you decided who is going to hood you?” Delphine paused she had no one. Her university had a tradition of allowing relatives to place the doctoral hood if you wanted. With no family Delphine accepted that her faculty advisor was her only option. She didn’t really know the man; she met with him once at the beginning of her admissions and before her final semester. Everything else was either done online or the papers were filled out and left in his drop box. When she looked up at him she saw he was looking at her as if he already knew the answer. He often had that look in his eyes. As if he was asking out of politeness and not out of necessity. 

“I, um, I don’t…”

“We’ve gotten rather close these past few months and as the director of DYAD I’m sure we could work something out. I would be more than happy to be the one to don you with your hood.” He said leaning closer to her.

She looked up with surprised eyes, “You would?”

“Of course.” He said in an exuberant voice, arms opening out as if to emphasize his point.

****

Sitting in her chair in the large auditorium Delphine couldn’t keep her smile from her face. She had been working towards this for her entire adult life and a fair amount of her childhood as well. When her name was finally called Delphine’s long legs carried her elegantly to this next chapter of her life.

Dr. Leekie stepped up from the line of parents, grandparents, and professors that had gathered to lay the hood on their respective graduates. He grinned down at her and she turned around when she was in front of him. Her smile only grew as the hood was slipped over her head. “Doctor Cormier,” he said quietly just before she moved back to her seat beaming.

Stepping outside Delphine was engulfed in the sunshine of a spring day in May. The light caught and bounced around her golden curls. When she caught sight of Leekie standing in front of the building holding two glasses of champagne she happily made her way over to him.

“Well doctor I believe congratulations are in order,” he told her as he held out a glass for her to take.

The glass was gladly accepted, “Thank you.” They both knew the thank you was for more than the drink. It was for the congratulations, for offering to come to the ceremony, and for the internship.

“It was my pleasure Delphine I assure you. Speaking of,” he paused for the dramatic flair he loved to show, “I have the honor of offering you a permanent position at the DYAD.”

Delphine couldn’t stop the small happy laugh that broke past her lips, “Seriously?”

Leekie nodded, “All you have to do is accept”

“Of course!”

****

A full-time employee of the DYAD meant she received an official name tag. It also meant she had to sign a confidentiality contract. The departments were compartmentalized so she didn’t have access to what the other departments were working on or how what she was working on may or may not be connected their research. That wasn’t rare though in businesses as big as this so she never thought of it.

She had been working at DYAD for about a month when Leekie made his move to engage her in a physical relationship. It took her by surprise but she didn’t reject his advances. He was her superior here and she didn’t want to cause problems. Besides, she respected him and he never asked for a deeper relationship than sex. He was a decent lover as well so it’s not like she didn’t get _anything_ out of their encounters.

They also had a passion for the sciences in common. Not that they had in depth discussions about it. Leekie didn’t like debating. People questioning him was not something he appreciated. If you were lucky you got dismissed with a smile condescending as if he was humoring a child, at worst he would look coldly into your eyes and while he told you why you were wrong. Still, listening to Leekie talk about science was by far more interesting than listening to anything her past lovers talked about.

For these reasons she let their sexual relationship continue. It didn’t happen often either. Leekie was back to traveling for his job. Visiting different countries to give presentations and running DYAD from his main base in Canada. She couldn’t say she missed him. She never missed any of them.

****

Months passed and Delphine had settled into a routine as she happily spent her days doing work she loved. Tonight she was working late in the lab. Everyone else she shared her lab with had left at least an hour ago but she was too absorbed in her work to care. The door opening behind her didn’t even draw her attention. The voice that sounded behind her did though, “Hard at work I see.”

Delphine jumped and spun around. “Aldous,” she greeted with a fleeting smile on her lips.

“I’ve been checking your progress here…and I think it might be time to have you take your next big step at the institute.”

“Quoi?”

“Come with me.” With that Leekie led her out of the lab and the office he had in this building.

****

“Clones,” Delphine’s surprised voice came out as half question half statement.

“Yes. Clones.” Leekie’s eyes were alight with intrigue.

Delphine didn’t know what to say. The scientific aspect fascinated her. On the other hand the legal and mostly the moral implications made her feel extremely uneasy. She felt it was best not to say anything at all.

Leekie didn’t seem bothered by her silence, “I want to bring you into the project. Obviously you’ve signed a confidentiality statement so you can’t disclose this to anyone.” His voice had taken on a serious tone at the end, coming off as more of a veiled threat than a reminder to Delphine.

_What should she do? What could she do?_ Whether she agreed with it or not she had signed contracts when she was hired. It was common practice to sign confidentiality statements and she certainly hadn’t expected there to be conspiracies and cover-ups when she’d signed them. She didn’t have anyone to tell and even if she tried to tell someone she’d be breaking the law. There was no way she could win against an international multi-billion dollar institution. Looking into Aldous’s eyes she did the only thing she could think to do and nodded her head.

****

That’s how she found herself on a plane to Minnesota. Attending university under the guise of still being a grad student. Standing before a human clone and finding something in her eyes she’d never found anywhere else. So foolish to not realize she was falling in love. It happened regardless of her awareness to the situation. A single kiss sparking realization and panic into her.

Despite her mind running in circles and trying to distance herself with rationalizations she couldn’t fight these feelings for long. Shortly after she found herself in that tiny dreadlocked woman’s doorway with a mantra playing through her head that she could maintain a friendship with this woman. No matter how strong she tried to scream the mantra to herself her heart screamed even louder. That kiss running in an endless loop through her mind. 

For the first time in her life she had made love and afterwards she found herself crying. She waited until she thought Cosima was asleep before letting the tears fall. These emotions were so overwhelming, this was not just sex, non it was love. When Cosima propped up onto an elbow and questioned her Delphine lied and told her she always cried after sex. How could she tell her the truth? That she had already fallen in love already. That she had never been in love before. That she had lied about who she was. That Cosima was a clone and Delphine had been sent to find out how much Cosima knew and if she knew anything about the danger she was in. If she told her what would Cosima do? Would Delphine still be able to protect her? What if DYAD came after both of them and she only put Cosima in more danger? She thought lying had been the best choice at the time. Despite any heartache that may come from this situation Delphine knew that this feeling of love that encompassed her was something she would never turn her back on.

****

Delphine was broken from her reminiscence with the beeping of a keypad and the lock on her door disengaging. Ferdinand strolled into the room with a gleeful smile on his face. What was American phrase Cosima had used before? A cat who ate a canary grin, yes that described the look on Ferdinand’s face.

“Oh Delphine, Delphine, Delphine,” Ferdinand shook his head back and forth. He pointed a finger at her as if scolding a child, “You have been keeping even more secrets than I thought.”

He sat at the edge of her bed and if Delphine thought it would have any lasting effect other than having her legs tied down she might have given into the urge to kick him in the face. “I’m sure there are many things in this world you are not aware of Ferdinand.” Delphine has no emotional inflection in her voice as she speaks the words.

The man only quirked one eyebrow at her before he continued, “I had a chat with one of the DYAD employees and I was so surprised to learn of your romantic entanglements with the subject Cosima Niehaus.” Delphine felt the chest tighten in fear. “I had no idea. Honestly if I had to place a bet on which clone you were involved with it certainly wouldn’t have been her. You hardly interacted at all according to my sources.”

This was a small consolation. People had been watching and Delphine’s decision to break not only Cosima’s heart but her own had protected them. Even if only for a short time.

“Ohhhh and there’s that fire in your eyes. Don’t worry Delphine I have no need to hurt them now. I have everyone exactly where I want them.” His eyes scanned Delphine as his said this, “After all with you no longer at DYAD they are back to square one. No connections to DYAD or topside. Who will they turn to for answers and we both know they will have questions. You see my little performance where I killed my partner at the mere mention of there being a Neolution mole convinced them I’m against Neolution. Perhaps I went a little overboard but we both know just how dramatic these subjects are prone to acting. They bought my act and it’s only a matter of time before they come to me.”

With a smile Ferdinand pat her on the leg before standing and making his way to the door. Halfway out he turned back, “I’ll have someone bring you some food.” With that Delphine was once again left alone.


	7. Rescue Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are the best! Thanks for all of the amazing and sweet comments. Enjoy

Sarah shook her head but there was a slight curl to her lips as she spoke, “She’s actually alive.”

Behind her glasses Cosima’s eyes were bright with relief even as they filled with tears. In the quiet of the room Cosima would swear at one point she heard Delphine mumbling quietly what sounded like _“Cozz…ma”_ Any warmth that brought to her heart was soon covered by the icy fingers of fear wrapping around her as the beeping of the heart monitor became irregular, her pulse threadier.

“No. No, no, no. Come on Delphine. Please no.” She begged as panic threatened to overtake her.

It all happened so suddenly. Before any medical help got to her and for seemingly no reason at all Delphine’s heart regained a strong normal beat. Cosima closed her eyes and the breath she took in felt like the first gasp of air after having been submerged in freezing waters.

She had proof for what she’d known in her heart all along. Delphine was alive. And she was going to find her.

****

“That son of a bitch!” Cosima’s voice rang out. Sarah thought for a second that she might have to hold Cosima back from smashing the computer as they witnessed Ferdinand hitting Delphine on her wound. She was staring wide-eyed at her bespectacled sister having never seen her look so furious. _Is that how she looked when mad? Face contorted and anger radiated from her small frame?_

“We have to go get her. Where is she?” Cosima demanded her eyes never leaving the screen.

Cal spoke up, “I’m working on it. His finances altered me to the suspicious payments for a warehouse but I haven’t actually been able to find anything stating the location of the warhouse.”

Sarah and Cal shared a look behind Cosima as her eyes remained glued to the Delphine in the video who had her free hand cradling her abdomen. They both knew Cosima was on edge right now and if she was anything like Sarah it wouldn’t be very long before she did something desperate and reckless. Cal nodded, he knew he’d have to work fast.

****

They made quick work of the video files they had, catching up to the latest videos available. Every night at midnight the day’s videos were uploaded to the files and Cosima was beyond anxious being a day behind on what was happening to Delphine. Not much had changed for Delphine. When one of Ferdinand’s men brought her food they had let the Frenchwoman out of her handcuffs. Apparently it had been decided that she wasn’t going anywhere with the injury and the lock on the door. As days passed Delphine had gotten stronger and was moving around her room. With nothing to do she would take a book that was in the room and sit at a desk with her back to camera as she read.

Sarah was barely managing to keep Cosima sane in the two days since they had discovered Ferdinand had Delphine. Is this how Delphine had felt while trying to work with them? Is this how S felt as she was growing up? It was bloody ridiculous. She was going to have to buy both women some chocolate or something.

Sarah was just trying to talk some sense into Cosima when Cal came rushing into the house, “I found it.” He threw some papers onto the table, “I know where the warehouse is.”

Cosima immediately jumped up. She was on her way to the front door when Sarah stopped her. “What the hell Sarah?!”

“Come on Cos. We should at least have the beginnings of plan before we go storming an enemy camp yeah?”

The dreadlocked sister’s mouth opened to continue to argue when Sarah butt in, “Do you really think Delphine wants you to get yourself killed?”

That caused the scientist to pause. Damn it. Damn Sarah being right and damn reckless streak. Now was the time to be rational, “Ok. Ok, what’s the plan?”

****

After going back and forth it was decided to bring Helena along. Cal explained that if the scoped out the area of the warehouse and they could find the cables than he’d be able to get a direct feed from the cameras and they could have live video. “Right. You stay in the car then and the two of us will go in after Delphine.”

“Whoa wait. Two of us?” Cosima spoke up.

“Yeah. Helena and me.” Sarah answered as if it was obvious.

“You honestly think I’m just going to stay here? Like hell I’m not going to get Delphine!”

Sarah looked like she wanted to argue more but Cal put his hand on her shoulder. “One more can’t hurt right?”

****

The four members of the rescue party were all piled into Cal’s SUV suffering from varying degrees of nerves. Helena was the only one that seemed totally unaffected. At the moment she was hiding weapons on her persons. A knife in each boot, screwdriver in her packet, what looked like a straightened out hanger up her sleeve, and a gun was resting in her lap.

Cosima’s hands were fidgeting at an extreme level and she kept moving in her seat. Sarah leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees only to sigh and sit back over and over again. Cal was typing furiously on his laptop making sure everything was set. “Ok here’s the live feed.”

Cosima practically threw herself over the seat to get a look at the laptop. Delphine was sitting back on the bed fiddling with the blankets. Sarah pulled out her phone and called Cal. She handed her phone to Cosima, “We only have two guns. You communicate with Cal.”

The three clones were quick to exit the SUV and make their way over to the side of the warehouse. While Cal had been out finding the wires to connect his laptop to Helena had been scoping out the building. The side wall had a tall window that Helena decided was their best way in. She had found some crates and pallets of old wood which she stacked below the window. Helena showed no hesitation as she easily traversed the pile of wood, metla, and plastic.

Even though Cosima was not confident in her infiltration abilities she also didn’t hesitate to begin the climb. Hers was admittedly slower than Helena’s. After some clambering she managed to drop through the window and into the warehouse. Stumbling slightly Cosima almost knocked into Helena who was busy making sure no one on the inside saw them breaking in. Luckily Cosima caught herself and, as Sarah dropped next to her, they had all made it inside without being noticed.

The three sisters began making their way down one of the hallways. Cosima glanced around, “We clearly have the right warehouse.”

“What are you going on about?” Sarah asks shooting her a look.

Cosima waves her arms around pointing all of the taxidermy and pictures along the walls, “I mean look at all the finches.”

Sarah considers asking what that has to do with anything but decides now isn’t the time and just lets the subject drop.

****

Delphine was sitting in her bed, hands hidden under the blanket. She had spent all of her time trying to think of a plan of escape. It was difficult considering how little she had to work with. Having been unconscious from being hit in the head in the parking garage until waking up this room meant she had no clue where she was or how heavily guarded this place was. It didn’t matter though; she refused to merely stay here. There was too much to do. If she was alive she might still be able to help the sisters, she had to get back to them. Not to mention she didn’t want to know what Ferdinand had in store for her when her body had healed more. He had always rubbed her the wrong way but she had humiliated him with her stunt with Sarah and that was something he was sure to repay.

Without any way to plan for what was outside of the room her plan was simple. Get out of the room. How she planned on doing that came to her fairly quickly. The room she was being kept in was mostly bare so her possible weapons were limited. Add in the camera that was filming her and the most obvious choice of trying to remove a leg from the bed or something was quickly ruled out. The only chair in the room was bolted to the floor it. This whole situation was ridiculous. Regardless she had formed a plan.

There was one sharp object in the room that Ferdinand had overlooked. A 20 gauge 1” intravenous needle was currently sticking into her left arm. It wasn’t the best but it was definitely something she could work with. If she was to make a weapon out of this though it would need a better grip. At the moment it was too small to grip while wielding in any sort of threatening manner. A problem she had also found a way around. For that she turned to a book.

The only book in the room was a copy of David Lack’s _Darwin’s Finches_. Each day she sat at the desk with her back to the camera and would tear some pages from the book. With enough layering and folding she manufactured a sort of handle.

Now sitting in bed Delphine took the paper handle from under her pillow. Removing the needle from her arm she fitted the needle in the handle, poking through the paper at the tip and securing it in place. Handling it Delphine was satisfied that it was stabilized. Now all she had to do was wait for someone to bring her food. While threatening whoever entered her room she would have them let her out and punch in the code so not to arouse suspicions. Hopefully the camera wasn’t being constantly watched

.

Delphine looked up her grip tightening on the needle as a man walked into her room carrying a tray of food. He walked over to the desk in the room setting down the food and turned to leave.

As quickly as she could Delphine got out of bed and walked behind the man and raising her left hand placed the needle at his ear canal. The man jerked to a stop.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you. This wouldn’t be a pleasant death.” It wasn’t true, the needle wouldn’t be long enough to kill him but she would be able to puncture his eardrum. The effect would be painful and distracting. She was hoping that if it came down to it that would be enough for her to get away. With any luck he wouldn’t call her bluff.

“W-what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to walk slowly out that door,” was her quick no-nonsense reply and he quickly did as told.

“Good. Now put the code in.” She waited as he punched numbers into the keypad. “Ok. Now what’s the fastest way out of here without being seen?”

Before he can reply an alarm starts going off. Both of them startle in surprise. _Merde._ Of course she wouldn’t be lucky enough for the cameras not be under observation. She feels him tense and begin to turn to attack her. Reacts on instinct she uses her left hand and shoves his face into the metal door before them. The physical exertion pulls at her muscles and her abdomen is screaming in pain. At least the man fell unconscious. With her right hand lightly pressed to her wound she looks to the left and then right, quickly turning and stumbling down the hallway to her right.

****

The three clones were making their way silently around the warehouse. Even Cal on the other end of the line had remained quiet so as not to distract them. Cosima jumped when she heard him through the phone, “Whoa! Um guys you won’t believe,” he was drowned out as an alarm started going off throughout the building.

“Bugger it all!” exclaimed Sarah eyes darting around them.

Helena was silent as she held the gun in her right hand and a knife in the left.

Cosima focused on the phone, “Cal uh do you know what’s going on?”

_“Yeah. Delphine just knocked one of them out and escaped her room.”_

“She’s out?! That’s great! Wait but how are we supposed to find her now?”

_“All I can tell you is she took a right at her door.”_ Just as Cal said this the three clones walked through a door that opened into a hallway that Delphine was sure she recognized from the videos. The unconscious man on the ground served as confirmation.

“Okay sooo….left she went right when facing the door or right if she was leaving the door?”

_“It’s a right if you’re walking out of the room,”_ Cal answered.

With directions the three women took off down the hall moving quicker, now that an alarm was already going off there was less need for subtlety. Cosima’s heart was racing in her chest and not just from the pressure of a blaring alarm and rushing through hallways but in anticipation. She was so close to having Delphine back.

Turning the corner the clones saw that a door to the outside had been left open. They made their way towards it when, “AHHHHH!” Delphine’s scream carried in from outside.

Cosima was sure she’d never run so fast in her life. Not even paying attention to how fast her muscles were carrying her only pushing herself harder to get to Delphine. Seeing Delphine crumpled in a heap on the ground made Cosima’s heart stutter in her chest but even so she pushed herself faster.

Delphine was lying on the ground the sweatpants and t-shirt she’d been given when she was able to move were now covered in dirt. Her limbs were twitching and her face was screwed up in pain. As she heard the approaching footfalls she struggled to get back up. Cosima let out a yell, “Delphine!” and when the sound reached Delphine her eyes shot open and locked with Cosima’s. Delphine seemed to be regarding the glasses clad clone in disbelief. As she finally reached the blonde Cosima collapsed to her knees quickly gathering Delphine in her arms and pulling her close, “Oh my god Delphine” she whispered into her hair.

A small whimper made it past Delphine’s lips despite her best efforts to keep it inside and enjoy the arms holding her. The pain was too much however and the noise was easily heard by Cosima who quickly albeit reluctantly eased off the embrace.

“She alright?” Sarah questioned.

Cosima looked to Delphine and the Frenchwoman gestured to her ankle. “They have some sort of shock bracelet on me. I cannot leave,” her voice was breathless and pained.

Cosima was quick to reach for her ankle and pull fruitlessly at the cuff around her ankle.

Helena spoke up, “We have company now.”

Looking back they saw a few men running in their direction.

“Shit shit shit shit.” Cosima was now desperately pulling at the band around the slim ankle but it wouldn’t budge.

Cal’s voice could be heard yelling through the phone that was on the ground next to them. Sarah picked it up so she could hear him better, _“You need to just bring her to the car. Once she’s a certain distance from the field it will stop shocking her. You don’t have time to get it off now.”_

Sarah sighed but she knew he was right. “You cover us yeah meathead?”

“It will be most pleasurable sestra.” Helena was quick to open fire on the approaching men.

Bending down Sarah helped Cosima get Delphine to her feet. She was standing unsteadily with her arms draped over the smaller women’s shoulders. They stepped away from the warehouse together. It didn’t take long to get within shocking distance and Delphine let out another cry as her body began convulsing. Cosima’s face was clearly showing her distress and Sarah grit her teeth and tried to move faster through the electric field. The two brunettes were practically dragging Delphine’s shaking body as the taller woman’s feet dragged on the ground. Helena was right behind them walking backwards and holding the men back.

Finally getting out of reach the body in their arms goes slack and both women grunt at the effort of countering the sudden shift in the distribution of weight. Fortunately Delphine recovers enough to shuffle her feet along with them. As they approach Cal’s SUV they see the door to the trunk has been opened and the four women scramble inside. Helena takes a few more shots before shutting the door as Cal takes off immediately.

“Everyone ok?” he calls back to them.

“Yeah yeah I think so.” Sarah tells him. Her attention quickly moves to the shock band on Delphine’s ankle, “We gotta get this thing off as quick as possible. They could have a tracker on it for all we know.” After examining it she finds the lock, “I need a wire or something and I can probably pick this lock.”

Helena moves closer while removing the straightened hanger from up her sleeve and handing it over. 

A few tries later and Sarah has removed the anklet and tosses it out the window. “This is easy as pie,” she says with a smirk.

“We have pie.” Helena asks looking between her sisters. Sarah snickers while shaking her head and Cosima chuckles before settling her eyes onto Delphine again.

Cosima notices something still clutched in Delphine’s hand and reaches for it. Uncurling the long fingers reveals the woman’s DIY weapon, Alison would be proud. “You made a shiv out of your IV needle and paper? That is so badass.” Delphine, who appeared to be on the brink of passing out seemed to register this comment, as her lips tiredly quirked into a smile before her eyes stopped fluttering and slid shut.

Cosima sat by Delphine’s side and lowered her head to the blonde’s chest listening to her heartbeat. She didn’t lift her head the entire ride back.


	8. Settling in at the Hideout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thanks for all the support. I love hearing from you guys.  
> Also I'm sorry this took longer than usual to update. Of course I had all this free time (that I was wisely using to read all of the glorious Cophine fanfics) but once I decide to start writing my own story I suddenly become insanely busy. Then I felt sick for a couple of days but I'm better now so here's the next chapter!

Delphine groaned as she regained consciousness. Everything hurt. Her muscles were sore from the constant flex of being electrocuted. The physical exertion put additional strain on her healing gunshot wound and additional pain than usual now radiated from her abdomen. Even so Delphine found herself pleased with her situation. There was a very familiar head resting on her chest. She wanted to lift her hand and run it along the dreadlocks but her arm felt as if it might as well be incased in cement. Her groan had not gone unnoticed and Cosima’s head popped up, dreads swaying around her shoulders.

“Hey!” She happily exclaimed, a bright smile lighting up her face.

Delphine’s voice is groggy but there’s a light in her eyes as she replies, “Bonjour Cosima”

“How are you feeling?” Cosima keeps one hand holding Delphine’s as her other begins waving around her, “Wait. That was an idiotic question. I mean you’ve been having a really shit time lately,” here she swallows as if physically pushing down the emotions that swell in her, “But we have you now and I’m going to make sure you’re okay.”

Cosima would almost swear that Delphine was staring directly into her soul with how deeply she was looking into her eyes. The blonde’s mouth opened but after a moment of hesitation her bottom lip was pulled between teeth and Delphine remained silent. Before Cosima could say anything further the back door of the trunk flew open and Helena stood on the other side smiling.

Delphine looked slightly confused having not realized that the car was stopped. Seeing this look Cosima was quick to explain, “We got here a couple of minutes before you woke up. Everyone else was setting things up.”

Cal walks up to the car to help get Delphine out of the car and into the house. Delphine looks at him not recognizing him. Turning her head towards Cosima she asks, “Who is he?”

“Oh this is Cal. Kira’s father.”

The blonde’s eyes travel back to the man in question and after a moment take on a suspicious edge. Cosima sees the look and continues, “We can trust him Delphine. He’s been helping us for a while.” Delphine’s answer was a tiny scoff and roll of her eyes. Whether it was from Cal’s quick and easy acceptance by the group or that this was yet another example of information withheld from her Cosima wasn’t sure. The small brunette shifted guiltily before clearing her throat and moving to help Delphine out the car.

Stepping out of the car Delphine quickly recognized the house from photos in DYAD’s files. “You brought me to the Hendrix household?”

Cosima’s right hand is placed on Delphine’s back, Delphine’s hand braced on the smaller woman’s shoulder for support, and Cosima’s left hand beings dancing through the air as she explains, “Um yeah. What with the cops investigating what they think is your murder and Felix being their number one suspect we couldn’t take you back his place or Siobhan’s.”

There is silence for a second before, “Wait? Did you say Felix is suspected as my killer?”

Despite the serious topic of discussion Cosima finds herself charmed by the little furrows of Delphine’s brow.

“Right you wouldn’t know. Yep, the gun that was uh, that was used to shoot you, had Felix’s prints on it.”

“So Neolution framed Felix.”

“Yeah. Well technically Paul was going to frame Felix but then Neolution got their hands on it and left a smoking gun behind.”

It was slow moving getting into the Hendrix house and down into the basement but Delphine refused to be fully carried. As she gingerly sat on the couch Cosima noticed a growing spot of blood bleeding through Delphine’s shirt. “Shit. You probably pulled your stitches. You’ll need new ones.”

Alison spoke for the first time since Delphine was brought in, “No. No. You’re not stitching someone up on my couch. We’ll just,” she paused looking around, “go back to the garage. That’s a much more suitable place for these sorts of things.”

Cosima sighed at that, “We’re not hauling her all the way back out to the garage. We’ll be careful. Look we’ll even go into the back room. There’s no carpet there.”

Accepting the compromise the clones and Delphine all made their way over to the room off the far wall. Donnie and Cal left them to it and went back upstairs. “You can’t complain about this. I mean you used this room as a bloody torture room for Donnie.” Sarah snarked to Alison. The soccer mom pointedly ignored Sarah as she moved over to a cupboard and began moving things to get to her sewing kit. 

Delphine sat down on a stool, careful not to let her the wound on her back touch the counter as she braced herself against it. Taking a pair of scissors the blonde lifted her shirt and carefully removed all the stitches. Cosima came back over with a bowl of warm water and a small towel she had found. She cleaned her injury as best as she could and washed the surrounding area of sweat and blood the bowl of water now swirled crimson. When Alison had a rather large sewing kit in her hands she placed it on the island counter and opened it up. Cosima grinned at all of the spools of colorful thread. Turning her smirking face to Delphine she asked, “Any specific color preference?”

No verbal response was offered she merely reached over and took the black thread from its place along with a small needle. Quick work was made of threading the needle and when she asked for a lighter Alison was easily located the lighter in one of the drawers. Needle sterilized, Delphine tightly gripped it and began moving it towards her stomach.

“Whoa what are you doing?” Cosima jumped in.

“I’m restiching the wound.”

“Obvs but shouldn’t someone else do it.”

“I’m the most experienced. Besides your hands are already shaking,” Cosima hadn’t even noticed the slight shaking of her hands until now. Delphine continues, looking to the other sisters, “Are any of you knowledgeable about this?”

Helena responds first, “I did this to myself when my sestra stabbed me with a pole.”

Sarah scoffs, “Yeah and you weren’t looking too good when I saw you after that.” Looking to Delphine she gestures at the blonde’s stomach, “I helped Mark when he was shot and it’s not something I want to do again anytime soon. You want to do it yourself have at it.”

Alison just nodded agreeing with Sarah’s last statement.

Decision reached Delphine grit her teeth and thread the needle through skin and muscle until she had a neatly stitched wound. Once that was finished Delphine unclenched her jaw and tried to get a look at her back. It was a futile attempt and she turned to Cosima, “How are the stitches at my back?”

“You pulled some of these too.”

Looking into each other eyes Cosima reaches for the needle. “I can do this. I won’t butcher you or anything, promise. You can trust me with this.”

Handing it over Delphine turns in her seat so her back is fully to Cosima. The smaller woman takes a deep breath to steady herself and then gets to work. Delphine’s hands are clutching the edge of the counter but she makes no sound of protest the entire time. Just as she’s finishing up Alison walks back in carrying a new shirt and a bottle of pain relief medication.

The clones went upstairs to let Delphine have a nap. Cosima was going to stay and watch over Delphine but eventually decided that a constantly grumbling stomach might stop Delphine from ever falling asleep. She’d grab some grub, bring a new definition to the phrase fast food, and get back to Delphine ASAP.

“This is great. Now that we have Delphine we can clear Fee’s name and he can come back.” Sarah was expressing more happiness than her usual serious demeanor showed.

Cosima’s head tilts slightly to the side, “No he can’t. How?”

“And you’re supposed to be the smart one,” Sarah grins as she picks up some snack that Alison pulled out of the oven and pops it into her mouth. “How do you think? We show the cops Delphine’s alive and she clears his name. Then the cops are just looking for some unidentified shooter.”

The dreadlocked clone’s head is shaking as she begins talking quickly, “No. You know what? The cops might be after Felix but fucking Neolution is after Delphine. If we send her to the police station Neolution will find out about it and because she’ll have to keep going back for interviews she’ll be a sitting duck. We’re not sacrificing her. _For anyone._ Okay?” Cosima’s last question is very much a demand.

Everyone’s eyes are on Cosima now. She is standing resolute, her fiery gaze unflinching. Sarah’s face immediately shows realization and remorse when she speaks, “You’re right. Cos, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking alright? I got carried away and hadn’t thought that through. I wouldn’t do that to Delphine. She’s one of us yeah?” Her voice is sincere and Cosima immediately relaxes.

****

Delphine is slipping in and out of sleep. She lays on her left side but every time she rolls too far to her stomach or her back the pain always wakes her up. She’s asleep once again so doesn’t hear someone coming down the stairs and sitting in the chair next to the couch. When Delphine’s eyes flutter open Cosima hasn’t moved.

“Hey,” Cosima cheerily greets the sleep tousled blonde.

“Hello Cosima,” Delphine’s reply is somewhat hesitant and Cosima hates that quickly trying to pick a topic that may relax the injured woman. “I brought you some food. You need to eat something. This has been here since I came down though so if you want something new I can totes go and snag something else. Or if you just want something else.” She manages to cut off her rambling even though her mouth and hands want to get going to light speed. 

Delphine turns her head and sees a tray of food between them on the coffee table. The tray holds a sandwich, bowl of fruit, some sort of cookie, and a glass of water. Her stomach reminds her it’s been a while since she’s eaten. Knowing she needs to keep her strength up Delphine attempts to sit up more. Cosima sees her struggle and moves quickly to her side, “Here let me help.” Rearranging the excess number of pillows and blankets behind Delphine the woman is soon propped up comfortably.

Picking up the tray Cosima deposits it to Delphine’s lap with a smile and “There you go,” before moving back to her seat. Delphine is enjoying the lunch. With her life adding stress exponentially on what seemed like a daily basis her appetite had suffered. She hadn’t been eating properly and most of what she did eat was consumed in a rush. Not remembering the last time she relaxed and took her time Delphine savors the calm moment.

The woman is finished with the fruit and sandwich now moving to pick up one of these cookies. She lifts it up and inspects it. Turning a confused face to Cosima she asks, “What is this?”

The eyes behind glasses widen comically, “It’s an animal cracker!”

Delphine’s mouth opens silently in confusion as she turns confused eyes back to the cracker in her hand, “This is not an animal,” she declares after a moment.

Cosima laughs lightly reaching forward and taking the cracker, “Of course it is. This is clearly a….” There’s a pause where Cosima’s brow furrows and she spins the cracker around this way and that before confidently looking up, “An elephant. It’s a totally an elephant. Obvs.” Cosima’s voice is cocky and assured but the truth of her cluelessness shows through her smile.

Delphine chuckles taking the cracker back and cocking her head to a new angle as she inspects it. After a pause she laughs again shaking her head. The pair quickly begin this ritual with the other crackers. Trying to decipher the shapes with as much difficulty as one might map out the constellations amongst the stars. Both are laughing uncontrollably and even though Delphine’s hand eventually comes to rest on her sore abdomen that only gets more painful with such hard laughter the smile never falls from her face.

The moment is so right, so close to perfect, just the two of them staring into each other’s eyes and coming alive because of it. Cosima wants nothing more than to lean over and kiss Delphine in that moment. Somehow she manages to restrain herself. Now wasn’t the time for that. Before getting Delphine back her main focus had been finding her. After that her secondary focus was working on the science to help the clones. She had thought so little on what to do once she had Delphine again.

In the quiet moments since they were reunited though she had thought of how to proceed. Cosima decided she wasn’t going to just jump back into a relationship with Delphine. She was done putting the other woman in difficult positions. Finished with giving her ultimatums; _I have enough dirt on you to ruin your career. You have to love all of us. If you’re not going to switch sides. If you’re not going to be with me_ ; with manipulating situations and pressuring Delphine to get her to act the way she wanted her to. No. She was going to let Delphine decide on her own. If Delphine thought it was still too dangerous to be together than she would trust her. She had been right before. This time would be different though. This time Cosima would wait.

As the laughing died down Delphine took two more pain pills and tried to get some more rest. Even in sleep a tiny smile seemed to dance around her lips.

****

Delphine’s abdominal muscles were even sorer than before when she woke up again. She couldn’t bring herself to care though. If this was the price for sharing a happy moment with Cosima than it was one she would gladly pay. When was the last time she had laughed? Thinking back Delphine thinks it might have been the night Cosima got her high. They had shared a few moments together after that moment but not so lighthearted. They had been moments preparing to meet Ethan Dunkin or taking care of Cosima after her collapse. After Frankfurt she knew for certain there was no laughter on her part. She had smiled when meeting Krystal but those moments were tainted by her stress. And while she had smiled when saying goodbye to Cosima her impending death had hung heavy around her the entire time. This moment had been different, unspoiled even by the gunshot wound in her abdomen.

Alison’s voice broke her silent contemplation, “Nope. We’re doing renovations down there. It’s off limits.” She could pick up the sound of feet running back through the house. Finally opening her eyes Delphine was surprised to see Cosima still here. The woman was asleep, curled up in the chair with her glasses pushed up on her face at an odd angle. Forgotten in her lap was a copy of _National Geographic_ the cover has a large marijuana plant on the cover with bold red letters spelling **WEED** across it. In slightly smaller script under it _The Science of Marijuana_ is the accompanying descriptor. Delphine breathes a small laugh at this.

Pushing herself up into a sitting position the blonde looks around realizing that she has no clue where the bathroom is. Deciding to explore and hope they wouldn’t put her down here without a bathroom when she couldn’t go upstairs because of Oscar and Gemma. As she stood she gasped when her abdominal muscles stretched and pulled at her stitches.

It was a quiet noise but it seemed to be enough to rouse Cosima from her sleep. The brunette groaned turning her head into the back cushion of the chair until it uncomfortably pressed her glasses into her skin. Groggily sitting up Cosima’s hand lifted to straighten her glasses while looking around. Spotting Delphine she quickly sat up, “Hey. What are you doing up? You should be resting.”

Large eyes look back at her guiltily for having woken her. “I was looking for a bathroom down here.”

Cosima’s own eyes widen as she jumps us. “It totally slipped my mind. Let me, like, give you the grand tour,” she says with a laugh in her voice and a wide gesture of her arms.

The tiny brunette moves around the room quickly so she is able to point out the highlights, which include the main room, the craft room, and a closet by the time Delphine is at her side. “And this brings us to the highly anticipated…” Cosima pauses as she makes a grand showing of this part of her tour, “bathroom.” She pushes open the door, bowing her head and motioning for Delphine to enter. The blonde gives her a smile and enters the bathroom. When the door closes behind the injured woman Cosima moves back to her chair and finds her cell on the floor. She sends a quick text to Alison asking if she can come upstairs. Alison is quick to respond with a no but then sends a second text offering to bring down breakfast.

When Delphine returns to the main room there are two plates of toast waiting on the table. Off to the side there is a small bowl with cut bananas and also a collection of jams and spreads. She was from behind Cosima as the brunette pours a ridiculous amount of cinnamon sugar onto her buttered toast and shakes the excess that’s not sticking onto a second piece of toast. Once both pieces are thoroughly covered Cosima finally seems satisfied with her application. Delphine approaches the couch to sit beside Cosima and notices that she’s already moved the pillows into a supportive position for her to eat in. Carefully sitting down into a cocoon of pillows she offers Cosima a smile. The woman next to her beams back before digging in to breakfast.

Choosing a strawberry jam Delphine put a light spread on her toast before beginning her own meal. Cosima would pause occasionally between bites of cinnamon toast to snag a piece of banana from the bowl. Delphine waited until after she had finished her toast before dishing some banana onto her plate.

It wasn’t long before Cosima began talking about the articles she’d read in the magazine and as much as Delphine felt that there were bigger things they needed to be talking about first, such as Neolution, the blonde found herself as always being hopelessly drawn in by Cosima.

The dreadlocked clone got up to pick up the magazine so they could get a closer look at a certain article they had been discussing. Delphine watching as Cosima bent over very much appreciating the view it afforded her. Running a hand through her hair Delphine sighed at feeling the greasy tangled mess it had become. “Do you think you could get some shampoo and conditioner for me? I can try to wash my hair in the sink down here.”

Cosima straightened and turned back to Delphine with the magazine in her hand. “Oh hey you don’t have to do that. Once the kids leave you can totally go upstairs and use a real shower.”

Delphine settles back further into the pillows letting out a happy sigh at imagining getting to have a proper shower. “It will be nice. I will just have to find some…um how do you say…the clear film you wrap food in?” Delphine is looking to Cosima for answers with a small crease between wide eyes, her tongue moving behind her teeth as she tries to find the proper wording. Cosima is as utterly mesmerized as she always is when the usually so composed Delphine stumbles with the English language.

“Saran wrap! Yeah were def gonna have to mummify you a little bit.”

While they wait for word that the Hendrix children are out of the house for a substantial length of time the two occupants of the basement dive back into conversation.


	9. Domestic Downtime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again wonderful readers. Happy Halloween!! It's a fairly short chapter but hopefully I can put the extra hour from daylight saving time to good use and get more writing done. Thanks for all the support. Now on with the story:

Cosima and Delphine had been waiting in the basement for a few hours before the sounds of Alison readying her kids to leave could be heard. She was issuing orders to Donnie over the loud sounds of the four occupants’ movements throughout the house. Before long Alison’s voice could be heard bidding them farewell followed by a door closing, than the chatter of children could be heard walking outside. Cosima waited until she heard the van drive away before yelling upstairs, “Hey Alison can we emerge from the bowels of our underground sanctum yet!”

Alison’s exasperated voice was quick to respond as the soccer mom appeared at the top of the stairs, “You should text instead of yelling,” she reprimands her careless clone.

“We heard the others leaving. Unless you have someone else in the house,” here Cosima’s demeanor became mischievous and teasing, “I think we’re good.”

“I don’t know why you can’t take this seriously.”

Cosima ignores her sister now choosing instead to turn to Delphine, “Come on. You want that shower?”

That was a question that needed no answer as Delphine got off the couch as quickly as she could, which was admittedly pretty slowly.

The brunette walked up the stairs beside Delphine to make sure she was alright. When she walked past Alison she asked, “Do you have saran wrap?”

The other woman’s face showed her confusion of the seemingly non-sequitur question. “Of course I have cling wrap. Why?” She asked following Cosima into the kitchen, Delphine trailing behind them both.

The dreadlocked sister didn’t hesitate to start opening cupboards looking for the saran wrap as she answered, “We’re going to commandeer your shower while we can.”

Alison pointed to one of the cabinets beside Cosima, “It’s in the one to your right. Just make sure you’re both back in the basement before anyone comes home. I have to go to work.”

Finally getting her hands on the saran wrap Cosima pulls it out and practically slams it onto the counter in victory while giving a distracted sort of wave behind her to Alison. “See ya later. Have fun doing…whatever it is you’re going to do.”

Alison huffs, “For your information I’m going to Bubbles to open the store and while there I also have to work with the treasurer to allocate our funding and budgets.”

“Mmhmm,” Is the only response Cosima gives as she pulls the entire roll out of the box before thinking better of it and putting it back and picking up the whole thing. “We might as well wait until we’re upstairs to do this,” Cosima tells Delphine. Grabbing a pair of scissors from a wooden block on the counter the dreadlocked woman leads Delphine out of the room without another word.

Before following the short woman Delphine offers a shy smile and nod to Alison. She turns away too soon to see Alison’s grateful smile in return.

****

Never has a staircase been the recipient of so much of Delphine’s ire. Each step brought a slew of French curses to the tip of her tongue but Delphine trapped them behind clenched teeth. The promise of a shower drove her to continue moving. Finally reaching the second floor she watched Cosima peeking into the rooms until she let out an “Aha” and walked into the newly located bathroom.

Once inside Cosima opened the closet and pulled out a towel and began rummaging through the supplies until she found an unopened toothbrush. She also found a first aid kit which included a roll of medical tape. The brunette was glad she found this it was a much better outcome than the duct tape she thought she might have to resort to, “Kudos to the Hendrix’s for being super stocked up on supplies.”

The clone turned to Delphine, “Right. First things first we, uh, need to get you out of your shirt.”

Part of Delphine wanted to merely lift her shirt enough for her wounds to be wrapped but she knew that her range of motion was limited. There was no way she could lift her arms high enough to remove the shirt on her own. Pulling back the shower curtain Delphine sat on the edge of the shower and raised her arms as much as she could. Cosima moved forward and gently gripped the hem of her shirt. Delphine felt the tips of Cosima’s fingers very lightly dragging along her sides as the shirt was lifted. Goosebumps erupted along her skin and Delphine tried to fight her body’s reaction to having Cosima touch her again.

Next Cosima eased the fabric over Delphine’s hair, careful not let any hair get snagged on her jewelry, and then down two pale arms. Both women drew in a breath as the shirt was removed completely leaving Delphine’s chest covered only by her bra but both were too wrapped up in their own thoughts to realize the other’s reaction. Cosima offered Delphine a hand up before turning back to the sink where she laid the shirt on the counter and picked up the wrap.

Delphine was grateful for Cosima’s gentleness as she carefully wrapped her midriff but it was in such stark contrast to how Cosima had been treating her that the emotions welled up and she found herself trying to blink away the stinging of tears in her eyes. Thankfully she got her emotions under control by the time Cosima had finished. “Do you need anything else? Are you gonna need any help showering or anything?”

They locked eyes and froze before Delphine quickly lowered her eyes, “Non. I’ll be fine Cosima.”

“You sure?” Cosima asked softly with a tilt of her head.

Delphine nodded rather than offer verbal reassurances.

“Ok.” The smaller of the two turned back to the sink and gathered everything she brought up before turning back to the blonde. “That’s the only outfit we’ve got that will fit you. We’ll have to go shopping so you can get some more clothes but until then if you want them washed you can just leave them outside the door and I can wash them while you shower.”

“Thank you Cosima,” Delphine’s reply was soft but heartfelt.

A small grin formed on Cosima’s lips, “Yeah. Totes. Anytime.”

Once Cosima had retreated to the hallway Delphine undressed completely and wrapped the towel left for her around her body. Depositing the clothes on into the hallway outside of the bathroom door the Frenchwoman retreated back into the bathroom and stepped into the shower.

****

It was difficult washing all of her hair with only her left hand but Delphine was determined. This felt amazing. Letting hot water run over her body she felt her tired and sore muscles begin to relax, finally easing their tension.

When Delphine finally manages to pull herself out of the shower she shivers. She wants to wrap herself up in the towel immediately but instead has to spend minutes standing bare in the cool air as she peels tape and layers of saran wrap away from her skin. The plastic did its job, her stitches have stayed dry. She takes the time to carefully clean the entry wound and as much of her exit wound as she can.

Once that’s finished Delphine wraps herself in a fluffy towel. The blonde begins methodically checking everything in the bathroom to make sure everything is in the same position she found it. When she’s satisfied with that Delphine makes her way to the door to get her clothes.

The floor outside the door is clear, no clean clothes waiting for her. Looking up and down the hall Delphine sees that there are no clothes in sight. And no Cosima. She shifted her weight uncertainly from foot to foot. She can’t just go wandering around a house that isn’t hers in nothing but a towel. What if someone comes home? Or a neighbor sees her through a window? “Cosima,” Delphine whispers into the empty hallway. “Cosima,” she tries again, slightly louder this time. Again she is met with silence. She leans against the doorway before shaking her head, taking a deep breath, and stepping out into the hallway. Careful to check for windows and listening for any noises that might indicate another person in the house the blonde makes her way down the hall.

As she moved she began to hear noises coming from further down the hall. She moved closer and just when she got to the closed door it flew open and she looked down to see Cosima standing on the other side. Cosima looked up with surprised eyes, not expecting to see Delphine before her but appreciating the view of the blonde in nothing but a towel.

Delphine, for her part, recovered quickly from the surprise of the sudden movement. She looked over the shorter woman and it was clear she had found another shower or bath. Her dreads were occasionally letting loose droplets of water. Delphine almost burst out laughing when she saw what Cosima was dressed in; the cut, style, and colors, all in opposition of Cosima’s usual fanfare; but she was not able to hold in a tiny snort or a cheeky smile of her own.

“I know. It’s practically nauseating right. Alison has no normal clothes.” While the brunette tried sound annoyed the answering teasing gleam shining brightly back at Delphine gave away the truth.

Cosima subconsciously took a step closer to Delphine. Looking up into the face she loved most in this world Cosima eyes were eventually drawn to the large bruise adorning Delphine’s left temple. “Oh wow. That looks even worse now that you’ve cleaned up.”

Delphine began to raise her hand to her head but smaller fingers beat her to it. Cosima gently ran her fingers along Delphine’s temple. Tracing the bruise from her frontal bone down the sphenoid and curving along to rest on the zygomatic bone just below where the bruise faded into the pale skin of her unbruised flesh.

Cosima found herself leaning closer to better inspect the bruise before reality came crashing back to her. Her hands flew between them, gesturing to the towel, “Our clothes are still in the drier. We could go check; they might be done now.”

****

“So another 10, 15 minutes and you can have your threads back.”

Delphine nodded and then her stomach growled. Cosima’s canines peaked through her amused grin, “Looks like we need to feed you.”

Cosima’s face grew serious as she took in weight loss even more noticeable now that her frame was more exposed. “You haven’t been eating properly lately,” she states remembering the insight she’d gotten from the DYAD’s cameras as to what Delphine’s lifestyle had been like lately. On a mission to fix this problem the small woman was already headed in the direction of the kitchen.

Delphine tilts her head confused by the other girl’s last comment but before she can question it Cosima has already disappeared. As with everywhere Cosima leads, Delphine follows.

****

When Cosima looks up from preparing lunch she notices Delphine hovering in the doorway to the kitchen. “Hey. You know you can totally come into the kitchen right?”

Blonde hair that’s starting to curl as it dries bounces as Delphine’s head shakes slightly, “I don’t think Alison would be pleased if she knew I walked around her kitchen naked.”

“Oh come on. You just showered you’re squeaky clean.”

Delphine laughs but still doesn’t cross the threshold, “I still don’t think she’d approve.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“I really don’t need you trying to get me into trouble with your sisters Cosima,” even as Delphine says this she steps just inside the doorframe, this time leaning on it from inside the kitchen. Cosima smirks at the barely given concession but lets the subject drop.

****

The two retreat to the basement after lunch is prepared. Cosima carries their lunch down the stairs and Delphine, who was now dressed in clothes still warm from the drier, carries Cosima’s folded clothes since the other woman hadn’t felt like changing again.

After lunch Cosima ran up the stairs to wash and put the dishes away. When she returned she had a glass of water with her. Sitting next to Delphine she put the glass on the table in front of the other woman and reached for the pills. Delphine’s hand covering her wrist stopped her and she turned questioning eyes on the blonde, “What’s up? You don’t want pills to help you sleep? Cause I kinda think they’re super necessary at this point.”

“I don’t have time to be napping. May I borrow your phone?”

“Yeah of course. Have at it. Who are you calling?” Cosima asked as Delphine took the offered phone.

“Sarah.”

“Cool. Yeah.” Cosima propped her left elbow onto the back of the couch and brought her chin to rest in her palm. “You need something?”

“We need to discuss Neolution.” Delphine answered while typing out her text to the British sister.

_It’s Delphine. We need to talk about our plans for Neolution._

Nodding her head Cosima leaned forward and picked up the pills, “I get that. I’ll iron out details with Sarah but you should rest until then.”

“I do not have time to rest Cosima. We cannot risk the lives of you and sisters in the hopes that Neolution are not going to act.”

The passion in Delphine’s eyes and voice not only warmed Cosima’s heart but was also a total turn on for the clone. She forced herself to stay focused though; this was Delphine’s health on the line. Cosima tried to keep her voice calm while also letting the blonde see that she cared as much for Delphine’s wellbeing as the other woman cared for theirs, “Look I know that you got treatment right away and you’ve been healing pretty well all things considered but you know how important rest is right now. Besides making plans with Sarah is always a bit of a crapshoot. You rest. I’ll deal with her and if you’re still asleep by the time she gets here than I’ll wake you up.”

Delphine acquiesced to Cosima’s reasoning and compromise and took the pill bottle from the small hand before her, carefully pouring two pills into the palm of her hand. After swallowing the pills with water the blonde began to recline onto the couch. Just as she let her eyes clothes they shot open again. Cosima, who was still sitting at the edge of the couch by Delphine’s legs, met the large hazel eyes gazing at her. 

“What is a crapshoot?” Delphine asked, the strange word stumbling off of her tongue in her uncertainty.

Cosima’s fangs made an appearance as she smiled brightly at Delphine. “It’s an unclear and unpredictable situation.”

The blonde let out a barely audible “Oh,” as she took in the information before closing her eyes again.

Cosima stayed by Delphine’s side, playing with the edge of the blanket, until the other woman had fallen asleep.


	10. A Time for Planning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SO sorry it's been so long. If you've seen my tumblr you know that I've been sucked into making Cophine videos. There are so many songs that remind me of Cosima and Delphine when I hear them so once I started making the videos I just couldn't stop. Yesterday was my birthday and I was going to make sure you got an update as a celebration but it took longer to get back to my computer than I expected so instead you get a present today!

Cosima sat in the craft room in the basement so as not to disturb Delphine. The small woman occasionally peeked into the room, checking that she was still as she’d left her. Sarah hadn’t text back yet so Cosima resorted to calling her. The phone kept ringing without answer and just as she was about to be sent to voicemail her sister answered.

“Yeah? What do you want?” was the irritable and breathless greeting.

“Uh…Did you get Delphine’s text? What’s going on? You sound out of breath,” suddenly Cosima’s eyes widened behind her glasses as she heard Cal’s husky voice in the background and the pieces clicked into place. “Are you and Cal having sex?”

“I was working on it. Not all of us spent all our time fucking. Some of us want to get laid too.”

The American clone’s mouth opened in shock and her eyebrows shot up, “Whoa. I know I’ve fucked up ok? Don’t be a bitch about it. Look Delphine’s sleeping right now so have fun with your sexfest just be here later tonight.” Without saying anything else Cosima ended the call putting the phone on the counter with more force than necessary. Anger and guilt coursed through her and she was always more comfortable dealing with anger than guilt.

A small noise from outside the room caught her attention. Leaving the island counter Cosima looked out into the main room. Over the back of the couch she could see Delphine shifting uncomfortably and as another whimper escaped through her lips Cosima’s anger dissipated. Rushing to the fitful woman’s side Cosima carefully sat down on the edge of the couch.

The brunette gently laid her left hand on between Delphine’s shoulder blades, her right hand holding onto Delphine’s right bicep trying to stop her from rolling off of her left side. Having hands on her didn’t seem to help the blonde though as she began fighting the hands resting on her. Now that her moving was getting worse Cosima tried talking to her to soothe while still holding her in place. “Shhh. Delphine it’s me and you’re safe,” she cooed softly to the other woman.

With one last whimper and attempted roll away from the hands Delphine jerked awake aggravating the wound. The Frenchwoman bit her lip and her left hand immediately moved up to cup her stomach while her right reached out and grabbed the body above her.

Cosima ignored the strong hand gripping tightly to her left shoulder with a locked arm holding her at arm’s length from the blonde. Instead she moved her left hand to rub gently at the tense muscles of Delphine’s midriff. Her right hand moving to cup Delphine’s cheek trying to get the other woman to look into her eyes and recognize she wasn’t a threat.

Delphine’s nostrils flared as she breathed heavily through her nose while keeping her teeth clenched in pain. Eventually her tired mind recognized the shape above her and Nealon’s form was replaced with Cosima’s. Now that the sudden pain was beginning to fade the overwhelming fear from her nightmare seeped back in its place. Her body continued to tremble as her emotions began to overpower her. No matter how much she tried to fight it she could feel herself losing her battle to keep the tears that flooded her eyes contained. The hand that had been holding Cosima back now softened its hold and began tenderly drawing the other woman closer.

For her part Cosima was happy to oblige wanting nothing more than to comfort her. Her left arm moved to support her bodyweight so she wasn’t leaning heavily on the injured woman. Delphine had rolled slightly, positioning herself so that there wasn’t too much pressure on her back while still being at a more comfortable position to hold Cosima. The brunette’s right hand remained cupping Delphine’s cheek, occasionally moving to massage her scalp and run her fingers through slightly curly and tangled blonde hair.

Cosima could tell that Delphine was holding in tears from the intermittent hitch in her breathing. Resting her right temple against Delphine’s the dreadlocked woman spoke softly to the woman she loved, whispering words of comfort and assurance into her ear, and trying to soothe her. She had never witnessed Delphine like this before as long arms clutched to her desperately as if Cosima’s presence was the only thing grounding her.

It didn’t take long for Delphine to gain control of her faculties again. She had always been good at controlling her emotions; it took extreme situations for her to lose control, an asset that she spent a lot of time perfecting after being sent to Frankfurt. Even though she managed to get her breathing under control and the slight shakes of her body had stopped, her emotions were still roiling and she held Cosima tightly.

“Je t…” Delphine cut herself off as she remembered her promise to no longer stand in Cosima’s way. She made an abrupt change to her words, “Je suis désolé. I am sorry Cosima.” As she whispered to the brunette she began to draw back her arms and tilt her head away, withdrawing as much as she could in her prone position.

Cosima pulled back but only enough to look into Delphine’s eyes, “No. No don’t apologize. I mean, shit, I owe you like so many apologies that I haven’t gotten around to yet. You’ve apologized enough. You don’t need to apologize. Especially for this. Never for this.”

Now that the adrenaline that had surged through her system had faded she was becoming sluggish. Delphine tried in vain to stop her eyes from blinking heavily, “I don’t understand. What are you…?” She was cut off by Cosima and by her own yawn.

“We probably shouldn’t get into this with you half asleep. We’ll talk when you wake up.”

It didn’t take long for Delphine to give into her body’s need for rest. Her long body curled around Cosima’s sitting form in sleep.

****

It wasn’t until night had fallen heavily upon the suburban block that Cosima heard tapping on the glass doors of Alison’s living room. Looking up she spotted her punk sister waiting on the other side. She stood from her spot on the couch let Sarah in.

Sarah greeted her with a simple nonchalant “Hey,” apparently having forgotten the bad mood she was in during their phone call and momentary cock block.

Alison entered the room. The soccer mom had been doing the dishes from their dinner after putting the kids and Donnie to sleep.

Cosima moved in the direction to the stairs leading to the basement. “I’m gonna go get Delphine.” Descending into the darkened basement her eyes immediately found the form of the blonde still sleeping on the couch. She had been reluctant to leave Delphine’s side but Alison insisted she wait for Sarah by the back door while she did the dishes. Now Cosima was just as reluctant to wake the slumbering woman after her nightmares earlier but she had told Delphine she’d wake her up when Sarah got here.

Getting to the couch Cosima saw Delphine’s right hand was resting on the spot the couch where Cosima had been sitting earlier. Cradling the hand between her own the dreadlocked clone resumed her seat in front of the prone form. When the warm body immediately moved to inch closer to her own Cosima couldn’t stop the smile from forming on her face.

Bringing her left hand up to sweep blonde curls back from the beautiful face Cosima began speaking softly, “Hey. Delphine. It’s time to get up now.”

Long eyelashes fluttered before a quiet voice thick with sleep and French accent muttered, “Cherie. Quoi?”

The soft smile Cosima had been sporting now became a full-blown grin. “You wanted me to wake you up remember. As soon as Sarah got here.”

It took a few moments before realization came to Delphine. As she sat up she looked at Cosima, “Thank you. Is Sarah coming down here or staying upstairs?”

“Upstairs.”

“I’ll meet you upstairs in a few minutes.” Delphine moves to the bathroom to freshen up and Cosima makes her way upstairs to wait.

****

Cosima took in Delphine’s appearance when she made her way up the stairs not too long after she’d joined her sisters in the family room. The blonde looked completely awake no trace of tiredness visible to Cosima’s searching eyes. The curls were more organized than they had been when she’d first woken up too. She almost looked as if nothing was wrong with her. The only thing that gave her away was the slight hunch of her torso as she sat down across from Sarah.

Sarah leans forward in her seat, “So you wanted to talk about Neolution.”

“Yes.”

“Any idea what to do?”

“We need an in to get at Neolution and there is only person we know of that is involved with them. We use Ferdinand.” This got an immediate reaction from the three sisters. Alison shivered in disgust, Sarah’s eyebrows arched high on her forehead, but Cosima’s was the only vocal response.

“Wait. What? We can’t work with that guy.” That creep had attacked and kidnapped Delphine; she didn’t want him anywhere near her.

“We don’t have a choice. We need Ferdinand.” Delphine turned back to Sarah, more used to planning with her than any of the others, “Unfortunately none of you can be the one to contact him. Now that you’ve broken into the warehouse he’ll know you know the truth about him. We need Topside…and there is only one person in Topside that we can trust to side with Leda. Marion.”

****

After discussing some of the plan and deciding that Sarah would contact Marion and they would have this meeting at Siobhan’s house, Alison made it clear she didn’t want all of this going on in her house, Sarah took off and Cosima and Delphine retreated to the basement.

When the two sat down the blonde immediately began the conversation, “You said we’d talk when I woke up. Talk about the odd comments you’ve been making.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. Right. Well when we found out you were missing we began looking for you. For information about what had happened. We found these video files.”

“You found the footage from DYAD’s security cameras,” it was half question, half statement.

“It was way more than DYAD’s cameras.”

Delphine shot Cosima a confused look at that comment, “What do you mean?”

“Rachel completely wired the place. Every room in DYAD, except like some closets and bathrooms, had cameras and speakers set up. She even bugged her own apartment.” Now that Cosima had started a prolonged explanation her hands were began moving with her words, “She had them put in as soon as she was made director. I’d say it was a waste because she hardly got to use them but it helped us so much I can’t even really be mad about the invasion of privacy.”

She paused and let Delphine process what she’d said. Two small hands reached forward to gently cradle Delphine’s hand, “I saw everything Delphine.” Cosima’s voice was softer when she said this and Delphine looked up into Cosima’s eyes.

Hazel eyes widened before the blonde shook her head, “You couldn’t have seen everything. If you saw…if you saw what I did to Rachel you wouldn’t be…” Delphine tried to slip her hand out from between the other woman’s but Cosima held fast.

“I shot Rachel in the eye with a pencil. Okay well Sarah pulled the trigger but it was my plan and I built the device. It could’ve killed her. I was willing to kill Rachel. I’m not gonna judge you for doing what you did to save us.”

Before Delphine could interrupt Cosima plowed on with the long-overdue conversation. “When I talked to you that night outside Bubbles I didn’t even know the half of it. I apologized but I didn’t really understand, you know? I thought I did but then I saw those tapes and I got this look into the life you’ve been living…because of me. When I said what I did in the lab about you loving all of us; I didn’t mean for this to happen. I just wanted you to know how much they mean to me, that we couldn’t be treated as just clones, but instead that we were sisters. I never expected you to be put in a position to have to make the decisions you had to.”

Taking a deep breath Cosima continued to talk; shedding the truths she’d been keeping from Delphine and laying herself bare before the woman she loved. “And it makes it so much worse to know that after I told you that it was about more than just me, from the moment you broke up with me all I was thinking about was myself.” Cosima can’t stop her eyes from filling with tears, “You were risking your life, giving everything you had to protect us, without getting anything in return while I practically abandoned my family. It wasn’t just my life that I was risking, but yours, and my sisters. I’m so sorry for being such a brat to like fucking astronomical levels.”

This caused Delphine to laugh slightly, eyes shining brightly with matching tears, and Cosima joined in with a wet laugh of her own.

Neither of the women had a chance to add more because the sound of footsteps hurrying down the stairs drew their attention. Alison came down the stairs, clone cell in hand, and ranting angrily. “Can you believe Sarah? The kids have a soccer game and party tomorrow. She didn’t even tell us a time. How am I supposed to plan a schedule like this?”

Cosima looked around, grasping for understanding about what had Alison worked up. “Umm,” as he eyes landed on the table she saw the light on her phone blinking. Cosima and Delphine had been so focused on each other they completely missed the incoming message. Picking up the phone she unlocked it and read Sarah’s short text: _Marion says she’ll meet us tomorrow. Meet at S’s_

“Uh well since we don’t have time we’ll just leave early to make sure we’re there.”

Alison didn’t seem pleased with Cosima’s lack of concern for her schedule. The woman huffed agitatedly and went back upstairs.

Left alone once more the scientists turned back to each other. With the heavy atmosphere broken neither knew how best to resume their previous conversation. Delphine was the first to talk, “It’s already late and if we’re leaving early we should get some sleep.”

“Yeah. Agreed.” Cosima moved over to the cot that Donnie had brought down for her earlier this evening. Grabbing the pair of pajamas that Alison gave her the bespectacled woman made her way into the bathroom to prepare for bed.

Delphine was rearranging the pillows into a supporting mold on the couch when Cosima emerged from the bathroom. Delphine shot her a small smile as she lay down across the couch. She smiled back feeling better tonight than she has in a while, even with the ridiculous pajamas she was wearing.

****

The next morning Cosima and Delphine waited for Alison to herd the kids and Donnie out of the house for the game earlier than usual. Alison took the minivan and left the keys for the car behind for them to use. Cosima drove them over to Mrs. S’s house trying to avoid any potholes to make the ride as smooth as possible for Delphine.

Once inside the British clone’s home Delphine looked between the two shorter women as if expected Cosima to leave. The dreadlocked clone wondered how long it would take to have to prove herself to Delphine. That she was fully committed to working with Delphine, to regain complete trust. Hopefully it wouldn’t take the extremes it took for Cosima to come to her senses.

The blonde asked to borrow some of Siobhan clothes for the meeting. Delphine was still upstairs getting ready when there was a sudden knock on the door. Cosima watched as Sarah made her way to the door. The punk was surprised to see Marion standing on the other side.

“I didn’t expect you to show up so quickly,” Sarah greeted opening the door.

Marion’s greeting was equally to the point, “I got on a flight here immediately after I got your message. I need your help.”

Sarah led the other woman into the living room, “We text you cause we wanted your help. What d’you need?”

Marion paused for a moment after noticing Cosima sitting in the room having never met her before, “Neolution has taken Charlotte.”

“Shite. That’s gonna make working with Ferdinand fun for you.”

“What does Ferdinand have to do with this?”

“Ferdinand’s a spy for Neolution,” Sarah explained.

The tall brunette tilted her head slightly, “He is? How did you come by this information?”

“Because he told me.” Delphine’s voice cut the silence as she walked confidently into the room. The Frenchwoman was dressed in a suit she’d found in Siobhan’s closet, her hair was straightened, and Cosima noticed that she’d evidently used makeup to cover-up the bruise on her face. Sarah took a seat but the other two woman remained standing as they discussed their situation.

“I thought you were dead.” Marion was clearly shocked to see the other woman.

“A ploy by Neolution.”

“And you were able to use this ploy to gain information on Ferdinand’s true allegiance?”

Delphine nodded and continued speaking, “Neolution’s infiltration is Leda’s biggest threat and they currently have two Leda clones.”

“Two? Who else have they taken besides Charlotte?”

“Rachel. It’s terrible that they’ve taken Charlotte but it does give us a more believable reason for you to be working with Ferdinand. Rather than telling him Topside wants Rachel back tell him you need help finding Charlotte. He’ll believe he has you fooled.”

Marion was quick on the uptake, “But we’ll be the ones fooling him.”

“Exactly.”

“Why would he make an effort to work with me for longer than is necessary to keep up appearances?” The older woman questioned.

Delphine is quick to respond, “He has more than an interest in just maintaining the illusion of his allegiance to Topside. He wants a spot at Topside’s table. A position you have and one you could help him get if he impresses you. His ego and ambition will blind him to your true intent.”

The two clones watched the back and forth between the other two women as they made plans. They remained standing the entire time. Delphine’s back was straight and she gave no indication that her attack by Neolution left her with serious injuries. Before too long things were wrapping up and Marion was getting ready to leave. Sarah was leading Marion to the door when the taller brunette turned back and looked at Delphine, “I’m glad you’re alright. It would have been a shame to lose the only person I can count to do whatever it takes to protect Leda without a doubt.”

Cosima felt a flash of irritation at Marion’s words. Can’t anyone be happy Delphine was alive just because she fucking deserved to be instead of her ability to protect the clones? What was worse was that Delphine didn’t seem to take offense at it. She merely nodded, “I will do everything I can to find Charlotte.”

“I know you will.” And with that Marion left.


End file.
